


and the universe said I love you

by r1e1a1



Series: The meaning of it all [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Background Relationships, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, High School, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Mild Blood, Multiple Relationships, Physical Abuse, Sexuality Crisis, Verbal Abuse, dreamnotfound, homophobic parents, karlnap, karlnap & dnf you're welcome, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:22:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29710191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/r1e1a1/pseuds/r1e1a1
Summary: Karl is a new student and Sapnap takes an immediate liking to him, vowing to himself that he would care for him. Dream is jealous, why? He doesn't want either of them, of course not, he wants their connection, and he wants it with George.or: karl becomes friends with the dream team and sapnap falls in love. ofc theres dnf too-rated mature because of mentions of abuse-
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Series: The meaning of it all [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2193444
Comments: 43
Kudos: 230





	1. new

**Author's Note:**

> !! TW // homophobia, abusive parents (physically & verbally)  
> while I will try to mark the specific chapters that have these, most of them have it at least somewhere so watch out for that!!! if either of these trigger you i HIGHLY recommend you don't read this, I want you to keep yourself safe :]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome and enjoy o-o   
> check out my other works as well if you like karlnap or just like my writing :>

Karl wasn’t particularly excited to wake up on any day, let alone on the first day of senior year at a new high school. It was 6am, he had stayed up until nearly 2am playing video games with his friends from back in North Carolina, so he prepared himself to run on 4 hours of sleep. He was woken up by the sun seeping through his curtains, shining a thin line of blinding light right over his eyes. He mumbled to himself, mainly angry about needing to wake up before noon, but got up and out of bed anyways. 

“Karl, honey, I made you breakfast!” His mom said from outside the door. He hummed in response and went downstairs to eat. Waffles weren’t his first choice, but he wasn’t complaining. “Are you excited?” She asked gleefully. He nodded, still not talking, and planted a fake smile on his face. He wasn’t excited, in fact, he was dreading going to school. Luckily though, it wasn’t super hot, so he could wear something comfy and get away with it, which would certainly help him get through the day. “What are you going to wear?” She continued. He just shrugged, trying to remember what he had clean in his closet. 

“I don’t know, but I’m gonna go get dressed,” he replied. His mother smiled and shooed him out of the dining room, clearly excited for him to go to school. He got up and walked back into his room, which was now filled with light from his window. He debated just throwing on something random, but he decided he wanted to look nice, make a good impression. He looked through his closet before his eyes landed on his favorite sweater, it was a deep purple with a dark cyan swirl in the middle. Grabbing it, he walked to his dresser and grabbed a pair of blank jeans with a few holes in them. He didn’t normally dress up, but then again he didn’t normally go anywhere or do anything, so there was no need. He changed into his new outfit and looked himself up and down in the mirror. He grabbed his bag, phone, and a few rings before heading back to the kitchen.

“You look nice,” his mom said. He smiled and gave her a hug before walking out the door and hopping into his car. Not all people his age had their own car, and his certainly wasn’t the most fancy one in the world, but he worked his ass off to afford it so it was perfect for him. The drive to school was short, and he accidentally ended up being nearly 20 minutes early, but it didn’t phase him. He needed some time to figure out where his classes were anyways. As he walked up to the large building he noticed groups of friends standing around outside. 

“Hello! Would you like a school paper?” A girl at the front door asked while greeting him. He smiled and politely shook his head, even though it probably would have been good for him to get to know people. The inside foyer of the school was empty, with only a few benches and a door to the front office. He walked in, assuming it was where he would get his schedule, and was greeted by a few women at their desks. 

“Hi! Are you new?” One asked. 

“Uh, yeah, I’m here for my schedule?” He asked. Another nodded and got up from her seat holding a small slip of paper.  
“Here, head to room 101, that’s where the student council is held. One of them is assigned to show you around, they will help you for the next few days,” she said. He nodded and grabbed the slip of paper that was filled with various numbers and names. He flipped it over and saw a small map of the school, and noticed 101 was just down the first hall, so he made his way there. There was a loud crash from inside the room as Karl put his hand on the doorknob, making him hesitate a bit before opening it. It was too late now though, because the door swung open after someone inside saw him standing there, and the entire room froze. 

“Um, hi?” He said. The boy who opened the door looked him up and down a few times. 

“Hey! I like your shoes, are you Karl? I’m supposed to give someone named Karl a tour today,” he said back, practically just thinking out loud. Karl nodded and the boy smiled wide, holding out his hand.

“I’m George, head of the student council, do you have your schedule?” He asked. He handed him the now slightly crinkled paper and waited for him to read. George looked back up with a grin on his face. 

“You’ve got classes with some of my friends!” He said warmly. Karl smiled back and allowed George to start leading the way, showing him each class. 

“Okay, we’re gonna walk your schedule and I’ll tell you about your classes and general things about the school. Technically that’s all we’re supposed to do, but the tour allows us to be late to 1st hour so we can take our time,” George said. Karl laughed and nodded as the two walked to Karl’s first class. 

“Okay, so you have physics 1st which sucks, but you’re with my friend Nick, we call him Sapnap, in this class, so hopefully it’s not too unbearable,” Karl listened politely and followed along. He was happy that George was so nice to him, even though he didn’t know if he had to because he was his tour guide. Maybe they could be friends. 

“Alright and your next 3 classes are on the other side of the building,” George continued. 

By the time they were done with the short tour, 1st hour was already halfway done. 

“Well I’ll be seeing you okay? Come find me at lunch if you don’t have anyone to sit with, I’m sure you’ll get along great with my friends!” George said as he walked away from Karl, leaving him in the middle of the hallway alone. Karl smiled and walked to his physics class. 

As he opened the door he was met with roughly 20 heads turned to him, eyes locked with his. The teacher pointed at an empty desk near the back of the class, not saying anything. Karl looked down and walked quickly to the seat, making a mental note of what George had said earlier. He wanted to find Nick, or Sapnap, because he was in 3 of Karl’s classes. The teacher continued her lesson that he had clearly interrupted, and he quietly pulled out his notebook to follow along.

“Psst!” He heard from next to him. Karl looked to his left and saw a guy looking at him, trying to get his attention. Karl pointed at himself, silently asking if he was the one the boy was trying to get the attention of. 

“Yeah, you, I saw you with my friend George, are you new?” He asked. Karl nodded and the boy smiled. 

“I’m Nick, my friends call me Sapnap,” he said softly. Karl smiled, happy that he had found who he was looking for so fast. “Well hello Nick,” he whispered. Sapnap scowled and shook his head. “Please, call me Sapnap, I hate being called Nick,” he whispered. Karl mentally cringed, thinking he had already messed up his first interaction. Sapnap noticed and chuckled lightly, turning back to the front board. The class only had 15 minutes left, so Karl decided to tune out whatever lesson he was supposed to be listening to. Time went by fast, considering it felt like only minutes before he was snapped out of his daze by the sound of the bell. 

“You alive over there?” Sapnap said. This was the first time Karl was actually able to hear his voice that wasn’t a whisper, he liked it. 

“Yeah, I’m good, just tired out of my mind,” He mumbled. Sapnap laughed and grabbed his bag, clearly waiting for Karl to join him. 

“Hurry up or I’m leaving you here!” He shouted from the doorframe. Karl quickly picked up his things and sped walked to Sapnap. 

“So, what’s your next class?” He asked. Karl grabbed his schedule and looked for his 2nd hour. 

“Um, looks like it’s computer science,” he replied. Sapnap’s smile grew and he sped up, already knowing where to go. “Dream’s in that class! God, you really are about to know my whole friend group huh?” He shouted. Karl matched Sapnap’s quick pace, trying desperately to catch up with him. “Dream?” He questioned. It was an odd name, anyone could see that, but clearly that was a thing around here. 

“Oh, yeah, his real name’s Clay but don’t call him that unless you wanna get punched,” he replied jokingly. Karl laughed and they two arrived to the classroom. 

“Normally I meet Dream here after class, so it looks like I’ll see you soon,” Sapnap said warmly. Karl nodded and turned to walk inside, only to be met by a tall figure standing in front of him. 

“Who are you?” He said. Karl looked up at the boy, who was at least a few inches taller than him. “I’m Karl!” He replied happily. His previous wave of tiredness was drowned out with the excitement of making new friends, so his cheerful demeanor rang through the taller’s ears. 

“Oh, I’m Dream, I saw you talking to Sapnap, are you two friends?” He asked. Karl hesitated before asking, he wasn’t sure if he considered Sapnap a friend. Sure, he was nice and friendly, but they literally met like 30 minutes ago. 

“Uh, I mean I guess so? I just met him last class though,” he replied quietly. Dream smiled and nodded, turning back to sit down in a chair. This classroom was much bigger, with each desk being occupied with a computer setup. The bell rang and the teacher dove into a lesson that was clearly being continued from a previous day, Karl had absolutely no idea what was happening. When he woke up that morning he thought he would be able to run fine on 4 hours of sleep, but it had only been 2 hours and he already was drained. The temporary relief from his tiredness from Sapnap’s friendly attitude was quickly wearing off, and Karl could feel himself wanting to doze off. 

“Go ahead and take a nap, you look like you’re about to die,” Dream said from behind him. He didn’t necessarily need permission, but the reassurance was enough to let him get in a quick power nap.

Similar to his last class, he was woken up by the bell and someone tapping his shoulder. He opened his eyes slowly to see Sapnap’s face right in front of him. 

“How-” Karl started to question, wondering how it was possible Sapnap had gotten there so fast. Sapnap shushed him, grabbed his arm, and pulled him up from his seat, sending a shock wave through his body. Grabbing his backpack, he walked side by side with Sapnap, who was next to him and Dream. To any outsider, they would look like a normal friend group who had known each other since middle school. 

“Dream!” He heard a familiar voice shout behind him. The 3 turned their heads to see George behind them, holding a poster board and at least 7 bottles of glitter glue.

“Hey Georgie!” He replied happily. Karl quietly listened to the two of them talk, Sapnap on his phone doing the same, it seemed like he was used to this sort of thing. 

“Oh, Karl! What class do you have next, I don’t remember,” George said, turning to him.  
“I think I have my study hall now, I’m not sure though,” he replied. George smiled and started laughing, directing the group to walk with him. 

“Well, isn’t that convenient?” He said sneakily. Karl planted a confused look on his face, clearly waiting for George to continue, only to be met with silence. 

“It just so happens that the 3 of us also have a study hall as well, and I need some help on this Homecoming poster. I’m recruiting you all to help me!” George said excitedly. The three reactions were vastly different. Sapnap groaned and rolled his eyes, Dream sighed and nodded, putting a smile on his face, and Karl’s eyes widened as he nodded as well. 

“Oh, okay sure,” Karl said timidly. George grinned as they walked into the library, which was much larger than his last school’s. Karl paused briefly to look around, knowing he would be spending a lot of time here. 

“Cool isn’t it?” Sapnap asked him. “I don’t read much but this place is sick.” Karl nodded, still gazing out at the room. It was big, very big in fact, with a large glass dome on the roof, allowing the morning light to spill through and brighten the area. Vines grew down from the ceiling as well, some nearly reaching the tops of the tall wood bookshelves. It looked magical, like something out of a fictional movie, except it was certainly real and Karl was certainly there. Sapnap nudged his shoulder, implying that they needed to catch back up with Dream and George, who were already sitting at a table. Karl looked at the other tables and noticed plenty of people staring at the four of them. 

“Why are there so many people looking at us?” Karl whispered to Sapnap, who just smiled. 

“Uh, not to come off sounding cocky or anything, but our friend group is quite… popular here. We normally stick to ourselves, so people are probably surprised to see you with us,” he said, laughing nervously. Immediate fear washed over Karl, who was realizing now what kind of situation he had gotten himself into. “Oh,” he said simply, unsure of how to respond. The four were now sitting at a small table, with the blank poster board spread out in front of them.

“Okay, Karl, how good are you at art?” George asked, causing the three of them to stare at him blankly. Maybe it was luck, but Karl happened to be pretty good at art related things.

“I guess pretty good?” He said. George smiled and handed him a pencil and a few markers. “Perfect, because the three of us are about as good as a toddler in preschool,” he replied. Karl laughed and took the art supplies out of his hand, before realizing he had no idea what he was doing. “Wait, what do you even want me to do,” he asked. George shrugged and looked at the other two, who only shrugged back. “I don’t know, it’s supposed to be a poster to advertise homecoming this year, I have all the info here,” he said while reaching into his pocket.

“Is there, like, a theme or something?” He asked. George nodded eagerly and handed him the paper. “Yup! This year’s theme is under the sea, so however you can draw that, go ahead.” Karl nodded and looked at the poster board, very aware of the fact that the three of them were still watching him eagerly. He sketched out a few fish and an octopus, deciding on the idea that he would draw the information in it’s limbs. 

By the time he was finished, it looked pretty decent, or as decent as it could be for a 45 minute job. At this point George was passed out, leaning up against Dream’s shoulder, who was scrolling through twitter on his phone. Sapnap had gotten up to get food, although it had been nearly 20 minutes so who knows where he was. 

“Hey, George, wake up,” Dream said softly, poking George’s cheek and effectively waking him up. “Karl finished your dumb poster.” George opened his eyes and looked down at the mess of blue and green marker. 

“Oh thank you Karl, this looks great!” He said happily. Karl smiled, “it’s no problem, you’ve been very nice to me today, it’s the least you could do,” he said shyly. 

“We’re nice to you because you’re cool!” He heard behind him. He whipped his head around and saw Sapnap who was standing with a tray of drinks. Karl smiled as Sapnap picked up one of them and handed it to him. 

“I had no idea what to get you so I just got us all hot chocolate, we all like it so I just got 4,” Sapnap said. Karl ginned and took the warm drink out of his hand, taking a sip. 

“Well don’t worry because hot chocolate is my second favorite drink,” Karl replied. A look of relief washed over Sapnap as he handed out the rest of the drinks around the table.  
“So, Karl, what class do you have next?” Dream asked. 

“English I think? But after that I’ve got lunch,” he said. Dream smiled and nodded. 

“Oh! You have the same lunch as us?” He asked. George punched him in the shoulder causing Dream to fall into a mess of defense and confusion. “Hey! What did I do?” He said. George laughed and shook his head. “I literally told you last period that I invited Karl to sit with us at lunch, do you even listen?” Dream rolled his eyes, his face turning a slightly pink color. 

“Yeah, but when you talk about boring stuff 90% of the time I tend to block it out,” he sneered, causing the table to laugh loudly. They sat and chatted a bit, drinking their hot cocoa, before the bell rang once more. This was the first class Karl had where he didn’t technically know anyone, aka he didn’t have Dream, George, or Sapnap, but he wasn’t too worried. Karl enjoyed meeting new people, so he didn’t mind being forced into the class alone. The lingering fear of accidentally becoming friends with the popular group of their grade did concern him however, as his last school never really had any sort of hierarchy in that way. He didn’t think it would be any different, he would just act as himself, but he was still worried about messing something up. His thoughts were cut short as he arrived at his classroom, and he looked down at his schedule to make sure he was in the right place. He walked in and sat at the back of the class in an empty seat, but not 10 seconds later a girl came up to him. 

“I’m sorry to bother, but we have assigned seats in this class, and that one is mine,” she said kindly, clearly embarrassed to ask him to get up. 

“Oh! I’m so sorry, I had no idea! Do you know where an open seat is?” Karl responded. She let out a small breath, very obviously relieved that he wasn’t mad at her for making him move. 

“Yeah, the one next to me here is open, I’m sorry again for making you move,” she said while hastily sitting down in the seat. “It’s totally fine, really, you don’t need to worry,” he said. She smiled and Karl sat down next to her. 

The english lesson went about as average as it possibly could, but at least he stayed awake this time. He was now in the hallway, desperately trying to remember where the cafeteria was. He hoped Dream, George, and Sapnap, who he learned were always referred to as the ‘dream team,’ still wanted him to sit with them, otherwise he would have no one. 

“Karl!” He heard as he walked in. Several faces turned to the source of the voice, who was Sapnap, and then to him. He stood frozen in the lunchroom entrance, not used to this amount of attention on him. With his head down he swiftly walked to the 3 boys who were sitting at a table with a few other people. 

“Guys, this is Karl, the guy I was talking about earlier,” Sapnap said, introducing him to the others. “Karl this is Callahan, Sam, and Bad,” he continued. Karl nodded and waved to them, sitting down next to sapnap. Each circular table had 3 benches, clearly meant to seat 6 people, so Karl certainly felt out of place when he finally sat. Luckily, Bad, Callahan, and Sam all sat together, leaving Sapnap with Karl, and George with Dream. 

“Sorry if I’m taking up too much space,” he said quietly. 

“No way, you’re totally fine, right guys?” Sapnap replied, followed with a few nodding heads. 

“Anyways, so I think I’ll have the part at my house, it won’t be too big, just to celebrate after the game,” Sam said, continuing whatever conversation they were having earlier. Karl sat quietly and zoned out for a bit, coming back to Sapnap poking his face, trying to talk to him.

“So?” He asked, only to be met with a confused stare from Karl. He sighed and rolled his eyes playfully. “I asked if you wanted to come to the football game friday?” He said. Karl was never a fan of football, or sports in general. It was too much work and even more work to actually understand, so it would be his first football game. 

“I mean, I guess so?” He replied. Sapnap cheered and clapped his hands, excited over the fact he was coming. It was nice, Karl really felt like he belonged with them, even if they had only met just a few hours earlier. Callahan made eye contact with him and held out a pop tart, silently gesturing for him to take it. “For me?” He asked. Callahan nodded, setting it in his open hand and went back to eating. 

“Oh, by the way, Callahan doesn’t talk, he normally uses a mixture of sign language and facial expressions to talk,” Sapnap whispered in his ear. Karl nodded, making a mental note to learn some basic sign when he got home that night so he could understand him properly. 

“So, how are things going in your life?” Sam asked him. All eyes were on him, and his mind simply drew a blank. 

“Uh, good I guess? Florida is nice,” he said. “Although it’s a lot hotter than where I used to live.”

Sam raised his eyebrow, “oh, where did you move from?” he asked. Karl laughed and sighed, the mention of his old home bringing back fond memories. “North Carolina, so it was certainly colder,” he replied. Sam chuckled and shook his head. “I hate any cold weather, I used to live in Texas a few years ago, so I never got used to anything below 60.” The conversation continued, forcing Karl to tell stories of his old school, but he didn’t mind. Sure, he missed it, but he liked how things were here, and he already felt a sense of place sitting with the group. Their lunch hour was much shorter than their regular periods, and that was made clear after only 20 minutes with the group. The bell rang, and everyone got up, George and Dream still continuing whatever conversation they were having before. The other 3 left together, so Sapnap and Karl were left together to walk to their next classes. 

“Whatcha got now?” Sapnap asked as they navigated through the crowded halls. “Gym,” Karl replied, a look of disgust growing on his face. “No way, me too! We have like, all our classes together!” Sapnap said happily, making Karl smile. “And normally I’d be happy about that, but I actually hate gym so I’m not looking forward to it,” he sighed. Sapnap laughed, shaking his head. “It’s okay, I’ll make it at least somewhat bearable for you, I promise,” he replied. Karl smiled, thankful even though he knew he was only kidding.

“I swear to god I might honking die,” Karl panted. Sapnap cackled and shoved the practically dying Karl into the locker room. Even though each class was only an hour long, to Karl it felt like at least 3. They were running laps today, and Sapnap was grateful for the light work. Karl upon hearing this news practically died on the spot, not wanting to do anything more than walking. 

“Wow, you really don’t do much huh?” Sapnap said, still holding back his laughter. Karl shot him an angry look, before cracking a smile back at him. The two changed back into their normal clothes, out of the itchy gym clothes they had to put on before the period started. Luckily it was their last class, so the two bolted out of the locker room to meet with George and Dream. Their last class was together as well, but it was on the other end of the building, so they had time to cool off after running in the hot gym. They were both sweaty messes, Sapnap especially, because he didn’t hold back when they ran. 

“So you’re coming to my football game right?” Sapnap asked. Karl stopped in his tracks and stared at him. “You’re on the team?” He practically yelled. Sapnap stopped next to him and looked back with disbelief. “Uh, yeah? I said that at lunch!” He replied. Karl blushed with embarrassment and turned away, silently cursing himself for not paying more attention. 

“Well, anyways, you’re coming right? You practically owe me now,” Sapnap snickered. Karl rolled his eyes and nodded, agreeing to go. 

“I’ll give you my jersey when it’s over,” Sapnap said, wiggling his eyebrows. Karl shoved his shoulder and they walked to the main foyer, where Sapnap usually waited for Dream and George. “Oh, hey guys, did you just have gym or something?” Karl heard Dream ask from behind them. They turned and smiled in sync at the sight of their other friends. 

“Yeah, it was a pretty easy day though, only laps,” Sapnap replied. Dream nodded and took a closer look at Karl before laughing. 

“What’s so funny?” Karl said, already knowing the answer. “Nothing, nothing, it’s just, if that’s what you look like after laps I can’t imagine what you’ll be like when you have to actually play sports,” Dream replied, struggling to breathe and talk because of his laughter. Karl mumbled a protest but ultimately agreed, he couldn’t imagine doing that every day. His phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket, it was his mom asking about his day. He responded quickly saying he would be on his way home soon and pocketed it again.

“I gotta head out, my mom’s pestering me about something, I’ll see you later though?” Karl said. He hoped they weren’t just being nice to him because it was his first day, but the three nodded eagerly. 

“Yeah, we’ll see you tomorrow, make sure you don’t forget about my game!” Sapnap said. Karl grinned and turned around, walking out the front doors. He had had a great day, the only emotion to sum it up was happiness, which was a surprising change from his grumpy attitude that morning. He hopped into his car and turned on the radio, which happened to be 2000’s throwbacks. He hummed along happily and drove his way home, reminding himself that his new friends were his friends, and that they weren’t just being nice to him for 1 day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wc - 4550 ooo many words mmm


	2. friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw // abuse, homophobia  
> throughout this whole book there will be mentions of homophobia and abuse, but this chapter specifically has it multiple times :) stay safe

Sapnap was having a crisis, to say the least. He never really thought or cared too much about his sexuality, mainly he focused on other things more important than relationships. That was, of course, until a brunet bundle of literal sunshine and joy appeared out of nowhere and made him practically fall in love. 

“Dream, George, what the fuck do I do, Karl is hot,” Sapnap said after Karl had pulled out of the school parking lot. The three were now sitting on the bleachers, where they normally hung out after school every day. Dream and George’s eyes widened and they glanced at each other, before Sapnap realized he had accidentally come out to them and somehow himself too.

“Oh,” they said, unsure of how to respond. 

“Guys, I literally have never felt this way ever, in my life, like ever,” Sapnap continued. Dream rested a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, trying to get Sapnap to mimic his breathing. 

“Dude, relax, you’ll be totally fine! You’ve never had any problems getting girls, what’s the difference?” Dream said, continuing to try and comfort him. He was met with a death glare from Sapnap, who clearly wasn’t having it. 

“The difference is that I like a dude, which is a first, and more importantly I met him  _ today _ !” Sapnap said louder. George sighed and tried to calm him as well. 

“Sapnap, first of all, I’m proud of you for being able to say that, it’s a hard thing to accept, and an even harder thing to tell people. Second of all, I think you need to calm down. Karl clearly likes being your friend, so you shouldn’t worry about the fact that you met him today. Just try to make a move or something, I don’t know!” George said. Sapnap nodded and looked around, avoiding eye contact with his two friends. “You guys don’t care right? About, you know-” Sapnap started, but the two of them cut him off immediately. “No, of course not!” “Hell nah dude!” They said at the same time. Sapnap smiled, tears forming in his eyes, and reached out for a hug. The other two gladly obliged, jumping into his open arms. They sat for a moment, all in a group hug, before Sapnap pulled away with worry painted on his face again. 

“Sap, what is it?” Dream asked softly, looking at his now very pale friend. 

“What the fuck do I tell my parents, I literally have no idea how they are going to react,” he spat out, looking down at his feet. 

“Don’t tell them shit, if it makes you that worried they don’t have to know right now,” George replied quickly. “I think before you come out to them you should figure some stuff out yourself first, yeah?” Sapnap nodded and a tear rolled down his cheek. He hated crying in front of his friends, in front of anyone really, but right now that was the least of his concern. They sat in comfortable silence for a while before Dream stood up abruptly, shaking the bleachers under them. 

“Alright, get up you two, we are getting ice cream,” Dream said decisively. “I can’t tolerate emotions without some mint chocolate chip.” The three giggled and walked to George's car, who had driven them there. They carpooled together nearly every day, they had for years, first with rides from their parents, but now by themselves. “Alright, where to? We’ve got a few options to choose from around here, so take your pick!” George said, looking at the ice cream parlors near them. 

“Sapnap, you can choose today, I chose our sushi last time,” Dream said softly. Sapnap nodded and looked over George’s shoulder at the options they had. “How about Dairy queen? Can’t go wrong with some good old DQ right?” The other two nodded in agreement, and George started the car. 

After finishing their ice cream, which was wonderful as always, George drove the two back to their respective houses, dropping Sapnap off first. 

“Maybe do some research tonight yeah? Trying to find a label you think fits might help you out a bit,” he called out as Sapnap climbed out of the back seat. He nodded and grabbed his bag, before turning and walking into his house. As if she was magic, Sapnap’s mother came into the mudroom and looked at Sapnap’s face closely. 

“Nick, have you been crying?” She asked him. Sapnap quickly thought up an excuse for his clearly red and puffy eyes. 

“Oh yeah, nothing bad though, Dream and George were just being extra funny today, made my eyes water a ton,” he replied. His mom looked at him with concern in her eyes, but shrugged and turned away. She clearly didn’t believe him, but also didn’t want to pry. Sapnap took his shoes off and dumped his backpack in the living room. He ran up the stairs and sat down at his desk, starting up his computer. He needed answers, more than anything, about whatever was going on in his head. He assured himself he wasn’t gay, sure, he thought Karl was hot and wanted to makeout with him every time they made eye contact, but he also declared girls were hot too. It took only minutes of “research” for him to figure out he was bisexual, and laughed at himself for overcomplicating it so much. He pulled out his phone and brought up his group chat with Dream and George to text them. He reminded himself to ask for Karl’s number sometime, he wanted to be able to text him every day. 

**Me:** _ literally took me like 5 mins to figure out im bisexual, i really love to overcomplicate things don’t i?  _

He sent the message, immediately receiving responses from the two of them.

**gogy🥵:** _ hey at least you figured it out right? that’s what counts :D _

**dweam👹:** _ True, better to overcomplicate it and figure it out than to brush it off :] _

He loved his friends, they were always so caring and sweet, and they knew when he needed comfort. He laid in bed, desperately wanting to take a nap, but decided to do his homework instead. Normally he just saved it for his study hall hour, but now that Karl was there he wanted as much free time as possible. He chuckled to himself, just realizing how much control Karl had over him without even knowing it. That boy was wrecking him, and he didn’t mind one bit.

Karl thought about his friends the whole car ride home, admiring certain things about each of them. George was always very sweet and kind, balancing out his sass perfectly. And his accent, of course, was really cool. Apparently the school had many transfer students from places all over Europe, and George happened to be one of them. Dream was funny, although they didn’t talk much he could tell he was caring and somewhat overprotective of his friends. Sapnap was, in most senses, absolutely perfect. Karl thought about him the most, he couldn’t pinpoint just one thing he liked about him, there were just too many to choose from. He needed to call Chris, his friend from back home, and tell him about his new amazing friends in Florida. As he pulled into the driveway, he noticed his dad’s car was already parked there. It was strange, before his dad didn’t get home until much later in the day, well after Karl returned from school. He shrugged it off and walked through the door, where his father was standing there ready to greet him. 

“So? How was it?” He asked. Karl smiled and shrugged. “Did you make any new friends? See any hot girls?” His dad continued. Karl mentally cringed at his comment but pushed it aside as he forced an answer. 

“Yeah, I made a few new friends, they are all really nice to me. They actually invited me to a football game tomorrow and I was planning on going, if that’s alright?” He said timidly. His father’s smile widened at this, and Karl realized why. “That’s my boy! Finally getting into some sports eh? Like a real man! No more of that art nonsense, you don’t need that,” he said happily. Karl smiled again, even if it was utterly fake, and started to walk up to his room. His father grabbed his wrist and yanked him back harshly, talking in his ear. “Maybe we try getting rid of some of these clothes, yeah? You look like a girl,” he sneered. Karl nodded and sucked in a breath, before his father let go and put back on a sweet smile. “Well then, go ahead and do your homework, dinner is at 5!” He said. Karl nodded and continued up the stairs, rubbing his wrist from the sudden pain of his dad grabbing it. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to it, his parents did this all the time, it was just their way of parenting, no harm done. He pulled out his phone and quickly dialed Chris, letting the line ring out a few times before getting an answer. 

“Karl! How’s Florida? Any beach boys catch your eye?” He said enthusiastically. Chris was the only one who knew Karl was gay, and he planned on keeping it that way. It was his original plan to tell no one, but when Chris came out to him as bisexual it was the first time he had felt safe speaking about it, and he knew it was good to get it off his chest. 

“Hey Chris, Florida’s wonderful, how’s everyone holding up over there? I heard it’s starting to get colder,” he replied. Chris hummed in response, clearly not interested in talking about the weather. “It’ll be fine, now answer my question,” he said. Karl rolled his eyes in response, even though Chris couldn’t see that. 

“I made some new friends, apparently they are the popular kids so I guess that means I am by association? Their names are Dream, George, and Sapnap,” he said.

“What kind of names are those?” He practically shouted, now laughing. Karl giggled, he hadn’t really thought too much about the strange nicknames people had, but he also wasn’t gonna question it. 

“I don’t know man, they’re just nicknames though,” He said, which only made Chris laugh harder. 

“Well I would hope so, imagine carrying a baby for 9 freaking months only to name it Snapmap, or whatever you said his name was,” Chris replied, now practically howling with laughter. This made Karl join in, now the two of them stuck in a laughing fit. 

“Karl! Who are you talking to?” He heard suddenly outside his door. Normally he would avoid being so loud, but it slipped his mind in the moment. Without knocking, though he never did, Karl’s dad barged through the door and grabbed his phone. Chris had clearly heard the commotion and hung up, knowing how his parents could get. 

“It better not be that *** again,” he said.  **[a/n yeah i can’t say this, so i sure as hell aint writing it just for the sake of a dumb little fanfic, but im sure we can all guess the not so lovely slur said here <3]**

Karl shook his head, trying rapidly to come up with an excuse. “Uh, no, it was a new friend from school, the one who invited me to the game tomorrow,” he said without hesitation. He had become extremely good at lying on the spot, which wasn’t something to brag about, but he considered it an accomplishment every time he succeeded at it. 

“Oh, good, maybe he’ll knock some sense into you,” he said, slamming Karl’s door. Karl sighed, tears forming in his eyes. His first instinct was to call Chris back, but he was worried about his father finding out. Chris being bi shouldn’t dictate whether Karl could talk to him, especially because he was more gay than him, but that’s just the way it was. He sighed and threw his phone down on his bed, laying next to it. He wanted to talk to Sapnap, or George, or even Dream, but he never asked for any of their numbers. 

Annoyed, he cracked open a monster and got out his homework, doing it quickly because of the rage and newfound energy from his drink. Maybe quickly was an overstatement, because by the time he was done it was nearly 5pm. Family dinners were probably one of his least favorite things, he felt like he was constantly walking on eggshells around his own parents. 

“Karl, come get your dinner!” He heard his mom shout from downstairs. He groaned and got himself up from his bed, which was now covered in various assignments, and walked down to the dining room table. The family ate in silence, as normal.

“Karl, honey, how was school?” Karl’s mom asked sweetly. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, instead forcing a smile onto his face. “It was good, I made some new friends, and I got invited to the football game tomorrow,” he said. She smiled, mouth full of food, and nodded politely. They finished eating in silence, before Karl quickly ran back into his room, afraid his father would start to yell at him about something if he stayed down there too long. 

It seemed that the only conversations they had were when he was being yelled at or told that he was a disappointment. He longed for someone to just tell him they were proud of him, or to give him a hug that wasn’t after a manipulative outbreak among his family. Annoyed, he sat himself down in his gaming chair and hopped onto minecraft, knowing it always seemed to calm him down. And, as expected, after hours of playing alone in the silence of his room, he began to grow tired from his long day. He had had a long day, and he wanted plenty of energy for tomorrow, which he knew would be even longer. He turned off his PC, changed into sweatpants and a random t-shirt, and flopped himself down on his bed, sleep coming to him almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wc- 2370 woo,
> 
> drink water and unclench ur jaw <33333  
> also side note, whenever you see karl's dad say "***" hes saying the f slur. I can't say it and im not gonna type it, so imma just use that instead.


	3. football?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> // mentions of abuse

Sapnap waited patiently in the front foyer of the school for Karl. He didn’t tell him he was going to be waiting, but he hoped Karl didn’t mind. He had gotten to school early that day, deciding to just drive himself. 

“Sapnap?” he heard from his left. Apparently he had zoned out, because he had no idea Karl was next to him. “Oh, hey Karl!” He said cheerfully. 

“Where are Dream and George?” He asked. Sapnap just shrugged, knowing he hadn’t come to school with them that day. 

“Oh, I drove myself today so I’m not too sure,” he replied. Karl nodded and started to walk to 1st hour. “Wait, where are you going?” Sapnap asked as he was leaving. Karl turned back around with a confused expression on his face. “Uh, going to physics? I thought you were waiting for Dream and George?” He said. Sapnap shook his head and grabbed Karl’s arm, causing him to flinch slightly. “Oh, sorry,” he said quietly, making a note to ask him about that another day. “I was waiting for you actually, so I thought we could walk together.” Karl smiled and they walked together to their first period. As the two walked they made light conversation, Sapnap still thinking about Karl flinching when he grabbed his arm. 

“Hey, I’m sorry again for grabbing you like that,” Sapnap said as they sat down next to one another in class. 

“Oh, no it’s fine, I just uh, have a bruise on my arm so it hurt a bit,” he replied, not making eye contact with him. Sapnap gave him a questioning look, clearly expecting him to continue with his statement. “It was nothing, don’t worry about it,” he just said. Sapnap wanted to pry, wanted to ask how his arm was bruised and what he could do to help, but he stayed quiet. They had only met yesterday, and while they were already friends he didn’t think it was very appropriate to ask. Karl pulled out his notebook and Sapnap followed, the two now sitting in a semi awkward silence. The teacher got up from her desk and pointed to the board, letting them know it was time to start class. 

“I’ve decided I hate physics,” Karl said as they walked out of the classroom. Sapnap laughed and nodded, agreeing that it was a horrible subject. They were off to computer science, where Sapnap normally met up with Dream before class. Now though, it was a lovely trip to drop off Karl at his class that he hoped they would do every day. 

“Oh hey guys!” Dream shouted from the other side of the hallway. He jogged up to them and walked next to Karl, putting him in the middle of the two. “How was physics?” He asked. Karl cringed and Sapnap laughed, shaking his head at the mention. 

“Horrible,” they both said in unison, before bursting out into a fit of laughter. Dream just smiled, catching Sapnap’s eye and raised his eyebrow. He was met with a death glare similar to the one he got the day before, clearly telling him to shut up about it. 

“Okay, I gotta go, see you two for study hall?” Sapnap said when they arrived at the door. The two nodded and the group split, leaving Dream and Karl to walk inside. 

“So, how was your night?” Dream asked. Karl shrugged, trying his best to keep on a neutral face at the thought of his father’s behavior last night. “It was fine I guess,” he responded, clearly wanting to end the conversation. Dream understood and nodded, smiling lightly. 

“Are you doing anything after school before the game?” He asked. Karl shook his head. “Nope, probably just gonna go home for a while before I go,” Karl replied. Dream’s smile grew and he nudged his arm. “The boys and I are gonna go out before the game, would you like to come?” He asked. Karl didn’t know this, but it was truly an honor to be asked to do anything with the Dream team after school, they almost never invited anyone to their hangouts. Karl nodded gleefully, “yeah, sure, what are you guys planning on doing?” He asked. Dream thought for a moment, trying to think of a good activity for the 4 of them. “Not sure, we normally just go out to eat and stuff, if that works with you?” He said. Karl nodded again, happy he was being invited to anything at all. “Yeah, I’ll have to make sure with my dad though,” he said quietly, his face changing from a large smile to simply a numb, straight face. “Yeah, that’s fine just text him or something,” Dream replied. He took note of Karl’s face while talking about his father, clearly the two didn’t get along. 

“Everyone quiet!” The teacher said, shushing the class. The lesson started, and Karl desperately wanted to just take another nap like the day before, but he forced himself to keep his eyes open. It went smoothly, or about as smoothly as it could, even though Karl didn’t retain practically any information from the class. When the bell rang Sapnap barged through their classroom doors and b-lined it to Karl and Dream’s desks. 

“How do you always get here so fast?” Karl asked. Sapnap chuckled and shrugged, “my class is just down the hall and I just ask to leave early,” he replied, a large smile on his face. 

As the 3 arrived at the library, George was already sitting at the same table as yesterday. People were staring at the group again, just like the previous day. As they sat down, Karl decided to question it. “Okay but seriously why are so many people staring at me,” he asked. The three others glanced at each other before George decided to answer.   
“They are just surprised you’re sitting with us, we never add new people to our group, especially during study hall,” he said simply. “It’s that big of a deal?” He asked. The three nodded and smiled. Karl just sat in shock, realizing how vastly different his old life was to now. “Anyways guys, I invited Karl to hangout after school with us, that’s cool right?” Dream asked. Sapnap grinned and nodded enthusiastically, clearly excited that Karl was coming with them, George soon following suit. 

It was now after school, and Karl had gotten permission to hang out with his “football friends,” as his father put it. Karl had been driven to school that day, so he was accidentally fully prepared to get a ride from someone. The four got into Dream’s car, who had driven to school that day, leaving Sapnap and Karl in the back seat. George had called shotgun the second they had stepped foot out of the school, knowing it would force Karl to sit next to Sapnap. Dream and George had agreed that morning to try to get the other two as close as possible as much as they could. 

“Where we heading, what are we craving?” Dream said as he started the car. The three of them looked at Karl, accidentally all wanting to go wherever he wanted to. 

“Oh, you want me to choose?” He asked at the sight of the others staring at him. “Okay, is there a Chik Fil A around here?” he asked. Dream nodded and pulled out of the parking lot. “Aren’t they homophobic?” George said absentmindedly. Sapnap froze and glanced at Karl who was just laughing.   
“Yeah, but that’s just the secret ingredient I think,” Karl said smoothly. The other three laughed as well, silently all hoping he didn’t mean it in a homophobic way. Sapnap especially was on edge, he didn’t think Karl meant it in a bad way, but anything surrounding the subject was still scary to listen to. Sapnap racked his brain for a plan, he wanted to try and subtly hint at the fact that he was bi to Karl. It was quiet in the car, Dream and George humming to the soft radio, while the other two sat on their phones. 

They pulled into the drive through and ordered, grabbing their respective meals and parking in the lot. They had all silently agreed to just eat in the car, none of them actually wanting to get out and eat inside. 

“What time does the game start?” Karl asked. “Technically it starts at 5, but we have to be back at like 3 for me to go to practice. We can drop you off or you can just stay and watch the practice too, up to you,” Sapnap replied. The last thing Karl wanted was to go home, so he just agreed to stay. The conversations they had were light, but Sapnap was still trying to figure out how to drop some hints to Karl. He didn’t really have a plan, so he texted Dream subtly to ask for help. 

**Me:** _i wanna hint at him that im bi, bc what if hes homophobic or something, pls help me D:_

He heard Dream’s phone ding and he quickly responded, and for that Sapnap was thankful.

**dweam👹:** _Ok I got u, just try to follow my lead ig_

Not to say that his statement worried Sapnap, but it did. Severely. Sapnap had thought Dream would come up with something and tell him, not take the situation into his own hands. 

“Sap, look,” Dream said, pointing to his phone. At this point the 4 were all sitting in a circle, George and Dream had turned around in their seats to face the other two. Sapnap grabbed Dream’s phone and saw he had instagram up, with a picture of some random text and an image. Sapnap understood Dream’s plan immediately and smiled. 

“He’s hot,” He said simply, making Karl and George’s conversation pause. He decided not to elaborate and handed his phone back to Dream. He didn’t say anything more partially because Karl didn’t give any reaction, but also because if he spoke his voice would probably be a shaky mess. As handed Dream’s phone back, he avoided Karl’s face completely, accidentally missing his real reaction. Karl smiled and nodded ever so slightly, which anyone who was watching would only catch if they were trying to. Luckily, Dream was staring at Karl, waiting for his reaction, and saw it. He smiled to himself now, realizing Karl had not only had a positive reaction but he had nodded, almost as if he was agreeing. It was a shitty plan, something he came up with on the spot, but he was still pretty proud that it had worked. 

“Anyways Karl, I really do think you should join the student council, you’d love it!” George said, continuing their conversation from earlier. Karl just shrugged, “I don’t know, I think my dad would be mad,” he said softly, looking down at his fidgeting hands.   
“Well, your dad sounds like an asshole then,” Dream said. Karl looked up at him and frowned, “no, no he’s fine, he would just probably prefer for me to do a sport or something, I don’t know, something less…” he paused for a moment before finishing, “‘girly,’ in his opinion.”

Dream rolled his eyes and laughed. “Yeah, my point still stands, he sounds like an ass. You should be able to do whatever you want without him trying to butt in like that.” Karl chuckled and glanced at his phone, realizing he had 4 missed calls from his father.   
“Oh, I have to call my dad actually, he called me earlier and I missed it,” Karl said, getting out of the car. He shut his door and took a deep breath before calling him back. He was greeted by yelling, his dad was clearly angry he had missed his calls.   
“Karl, where the fuck are you? You should be home right now, what are you doing?” He yelled. Karl sighed and tried to keep his tone as respectful as possible. “I’m sorry dad, my friend I was talking about earlier invited me to watch him at football practice, I thought you would be okay with that because you like when I do stuff with sports,” he replied. He wanted to say it in a much different way, but he refrained himself because he didn’t want to be grounded. 

“Fine, just tell me next time or I’ll take that phone away from you. You should be grateful you even have it right now, you little bitch,” his father replied, before swiftly hanging up. Karl held back tears, he didn’t want to cry in the middle of the chik fil a parking lot, let alone near his new friends. He got back into the car and was met with his friends staring at him, worry covering their faces. “Are you okay?” George asked. Karl swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine, I guess I just forgot to tell him where I was, that’s all.” Sapnap’s brow furrowed. “What? No, I was with you when you texted him, he knew where you were going already,” he said, his tone switching between care and anger. Karl just looked down at his hands, avoiding talking about it. 

“Karl, are you okay? You can trust us, you know,” Dream said softly. At this point it was getting very difficult for Karl to hold back his tears, he knew his eyes would overflow at some point. Even if Karl spoke, he was afraid he would break down, so he just stayed quiet, still avoiding all eye contact. Sapnap looked at his 2 friends, shaking his head as if to tell them to drop it. 

“I’ll talk to him later,” Dream mouthed, and they nodded in response. 

“Okay, well I think we should head back if you don’t want to be late for practice,” Dream said, changing the subject. Karl was grateful they understood, happy that they were still trying to care for him. “Yeah, coach will be pissed if I’m late,” Sapnap replied, buckling his seatbelt. Everyone else did the same, and they hit the road again, driving back to school. 

When they arrived, George walked inside and mumbled something about a club meeting before swiftly leaving them, and Sapnap jogged over to the field. This left Karl and Dream together on the bleachers, a heavy silence between them. 

“Look, Karl, it’s okay if you don’t want to tell me, I completely understand, but I have a feeling something is wrong and I think you should talk to someone, okay? It doesn’t have to be me, but clearly there’s something you need to get off your chest,” Dream said softly, breaking their silence. Karl nodded and took a deep breath to calm himself. He knew he had to talk to someone, that it was healthy, especially because he didn’t have Chris by his side anymore. He wanted desperately to just spill his guts out to Dream, to explain his whole situation in detail, but he was scared. Scared he would be judged, or that he wouldn’t care, or he would stop being friends with him. Scared of losing his new friends. He looked up into the horizon where clouds swirled in the bright, blue sky, and decided he needed to speak. He needed to say something, he just hoped Dream was the right person. 

“He hits me,” he said finally, in just barely a whisper. Even with how quiet it was, Dream heard, and understood completely. What he didn’t understand was how to comfort him, or even what to say, so he just did what he thought he would want if he were in a situation like this. 

“Would you like a hug?” He asked, opening his arms. Karl’s eyes widened as he looked at Dream, before nodding and moving closer to him. As if he knew, Dream had asked for the exact thing Karl needed, the exact thing he wanted last night, what he wanted now. Someone to hug him, to just tell him he would be okay. 

“How bad is it?” Dream said, pulling away. Karl was crying silently now, tears rolling down his cheeks. It reminded Dream of just the day before, sitting and listening to Sapnap cry. He hated seeing his friends sad, let alone emotional enough to cry, so it was hard to talk to him. Karl didn’t say anything for a moment, but instead decided to roll up his sleeves, revealing various bruises and cuts up his arms. Dream wasn’t one to cry, but the sight alone was enough to make anyone break down. Dream just nodded, he could tell Karl was uncomfortable having his arms exposed. With that he promptly rolled them back down, wincing at the speed he did it. 

“Is it both of them, or just your dad?” He asked. If it was both, it would make things significantly harder, as Karl wouldn’t be able to tell his mother. “Both,” he mumbled. Dream sighed and put his hand on Karl’s back, lightly rubbing it in circles. 

“How can I help you?” He asked. He knew Karl was vulnerable, but he had to make sure he knew what to do, afraid he wouldn’t open up like this again. Karl just shrugged and wiped his face off. As if nothing happened Karl’s face returned to a normal color and he put on a stone cold expression, closing himself off. It was shocking to Dream, to say the least. He had never seen someone change expressions like that, let alone after talking about such a touchy subject. Dream was about to ask again, but he heard a familiar voice and a set of footsteps to his right. George was walking up the bleachers with a large smile on his face. 

“Hey guys!” He said. Karl smiled and waved, his emotions changing again. “Hey George! How was your club meeting?” he said happily. Dream just looked at Karl, amazed at how quickly he snapped out of his other emotions. Not 2 minutes ago he was crying and shaking, opening up to Dream completely, and now he was joyful and energetic while talking to George. He didn’t want to be impressed, especially because he knew it was a response he had gotten from his parents, but it was still shocking. 

“It went great! I’m really excited for homecoming, it’s gonna look awesome!” He said. 

“When is homecoming?” Karl asked in response. This sparked an idea in Dream’s head, but he stayed quiet, telling himself to tell Sapnap later. 

“You don’t know? It’s literally in, like, a month!” George said, disbelief soaking his words. Karl turned red out of embarrassment and shrugged. “Oh, I guess that’s soon huh?” he said sheepishly. George nodded. “You gonna go?” He asked. Karl shook his head. “Probably not, I’ve never really been one to go to stuff like that. Unless someone asks me I’ll probably just stay home,” he said. Dream grinned at hearing this, knowing he was going to force Sapnap to ask him. 

“Well hopefully you find a date before then,” he said simply. Karl rolled his eyes but nodded. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” A whistle blew on the field, getting all of their attention. They had started practice, and the real game would start in just an hour or two. “Which one is he?” Karl asked absentmindedly. He had been meaning to ask in the car but it had slipped his mind after his phone call. 

“Number 37,” George said, pointing to one of the players. Karl glanced around for a moment before his eyes landed on Sapnap, who was warming up. He sucked in a short breath, a thought coming to his mind he was actively trying to push away. Sapnap was hot. Karl shook his head, causing Dream to look at him with a brow raised, and he just shook his head more. 

About an hour later, the bleachers started to fill with people as they came to watch the game. The 3 still were sitting together, talking about random subjects, when Karl heard a voice behind him that he vaguely recognized. When he turned to find the source, he saw the girl he had met yesterday in english, and gave her a small wave. She caught his eye and waved back enthusiastically before returning to talk with her friends. 

“Niki,” George said simply, looking at Karl. “That’s Niki, she’s the head of the school paper. You know her?” He asked. Karl nodded, before taking it back and shrugging. “I mean I guess so? She’s in my english class, I talked with her yesterday, and she seems nice,” Karl said. George smiled. “We could go sit by them if you’d like? You can meet her friends, I know some of them too.” Karl nodded hesitantly, and George grabbed Dream’s arm and pulled him to their group. Dream looked more than confused, had been on his phone not paying attention. 

“Niki!” George shouted. She turned to him and saw that the 3 were walking over, before shoving her friend over to make room for them. 

“What was that for?” One of them said. She rolled her eyes and pointed at Karl, George, and Dream, who were sitting down. The guy nodded and scooted over more to give them space. 

“Hey guys, this is Karl,” George said, looking around at the group. He was met with a few hellos and some nods. George spoke again, “Karl this is, in order, Niki, Tommy, Tubbo, Techno, and Wilbur.” Karl looked around at the group, who was sprawled out over the bleachers. 

“Hey guys,” he said quietly, trying his best not to embarrass himself in front of such a large group. “Are you new?” One of them asked, who he had learned was named Tommy. 

“Yeah, I started yesterday,” he replied. Tommy grinned and poked his friend, Tubbo, who was also smiling. “Welcome then,” the other had said, much quieter. Tommy seemed to have lots of energy, but he also seemed to be younger than the rest of them. 

“Are you a senior?” Karl asked him. Tommy shook his head and grabbed Tubbo’s arm, who had no reaction to the gesture. “Nope, we are juniors, Tubbo and I, we moved from the uk with that dickhead,” he said, pointing at another person in the group. He looked up and rolled his eyes. 

“Shut the fuck up Tommy,” he replied, causing them both to laugh. They clearly had been friends for a while, the whole group was so open and loud with one another.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a few whistles blowing, indicating the football game had begun. Karl had no clue what was happening, but he just watched Sapnap play his part on the team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wc - 3784 
> 
> swaggy woooo go drink some water and shit, make sure you ate today.
> 
> also check out my other works if you enjoy this one :]


	4. asleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> // lots of talk about abuse and homophobia!

They played a good game, Sapnap was sweaty and tired out of his mind. They had won, knocked it out of the park even, but Sapnap was more excited to see his friends after the game. He decided he wanted to ask them all to sleep over, including Karl, and he hoped they would say yes. As he ran to the edge of the bleachers and grabbed his water, he saw his friends at the top of them, talking with a large group. He recognized a few of them, mostly from seeing them talking with George in the halls. Dream and George looked to be fighting about something, maybe a friendly debate, and a few of the others started to get involved. Karl was just quiet, looking out at the field, before making eye contact with him. Sapnap smiled and gestured for Karl to come down, and Karl grinned and got up. Dream glanced at him, before going back to his mini debate with George. 

“You did great! I think!” Karl said as he walked down, making Sapnap laugh. 

“You have no idea what just happened, do you?” He said, causing both of them to giggle. Karl shook his head and stepped onto the ground where Sapnap stood. 

“Hey, but you won though, right?” He snickered. Sapnap rolled his eyes and nodded, finishing his sip of water. “Yeah, we did. Maybe I should teach you how the game works sometime so you’ll understand next time,” he replied.    
“Next time? Who said I was gonna come again?” Karl questioned jokingly, causing Sapnap’s face to drop. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding, of course I’ll come to your next one!” Sapnap just nodded, continuing to smile. Karl turned around at the sound of talking approaching them, where Dream and George stood, still holding a conversation. “Hey guys, now that I’ve got the 3 of you here, I was wondering if you wanted to come over?” Sapnap asked shyly. Dream and George nodded, and the 3 of them looked at Karl.    
“Oh, I want to but I’ll have to ask if it’s okay,” he said. Dream noticed his immediate worry at the thought of calling his parents. He shot Karl a sympathetic look, trying to keep their conversation they had earlier private. 

“Yeah, go ahead, I gotta go grab my stuff from my locker room, if you guys wanna come?” Sapnap replied, looking at Dream and George. He was trying to give Karl some alone time in hopes he would be more comfortable. They understood and nodded, leaving Karl alone for a bit. Karl walked to get away from the rest of the crowd and called his mom, hoping she would be nicer. She picked up immediately and said hello. 

“Hey mom, my friend invited me over for a sleepover tonight, can I go? He wants to teach me football,” He said, purposefully adding the mention of sports in hopes it would please her. 

“Yes, but if you don’t finish your homework before you come home you’re grounded. Also, be home by 11 tomorrow, we have family lunch,” she replied. Karl silently celebrated, grateful she was being so nice, and said goodbye. He let out a breath of relief, it was nearly a miracle that he was allowed to go without anyone getting mad at him. Karl walked over to the entrance of the locker room where he had seen his friends just go. He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to go inside, so he settled on waiting outside near a tree. The sun was setting now, the sky turning a yellow-pink swirled mixture, stars poking out of the light above him. 

“Karl?” Dream said, walking up next to him. Karl looked over and grinned, “so what are we doing tonight?” He said. Dream smiled and patted him on the back, “You’re coming? Sick!” Karl nodded, and then saw Sapnap and George walking out of the building as well. Upon seeing Karl and Dream’s faces, Sapnap confirmed in his head that he was able to come. The group walked to Dream’s car and got in the seats they sat in earlier. Sapnap was clearly exhausted, already trying to fall asleep in the backseat. 

“You can lay down if you want to,” Karl said, looking out the window. Sapnap just stared at him with disbelief. “Oh, no, I’ll be okay,” He stuttered out. He wanted to, more than anything actually, to just lay down and fall asleep, but he didn’t want to make Karl uncomfortable. The rest of the ride was quiet, with the occasional banter between George and Dream. They pulled up to Sapnap’s house and got out of the car. Sapnap’s parents greeted them warmly and the 3 introduced Karl to them. “This is Karl, he was new and we stole him,” George said, causing everyone to laugh. 

“Alright, go have fun, and try to be asleep before, like, 3 please? I don’t wanna wake up to screaming again,” His mother said, eyeing Dream. He giggled and rolled his eyes, clearly they were talking about an old memory. Karl was shocked at how Sapnap’s parents behaved, they were so sweet to him even though they just met him. Sapnap grabbed Karl’s arm, this time lightly, and pulled him upstairs. The other two followed quickly, and they all entered his room. George and Dream sat down immediately, clearly they sat there every time they were over. Karl stopped, unsure of where he should sit, but Sapnap just pulled him over to the bed. The two sat down on the bed, Dream was sprawled out on a bean bag in the corner of the room, and George was busy spinning in Sapnap’s desk chair. The first thing Karl noticed was Sapnap’s PC, it was nice, very similar to his own. 

“Cool PC,” Karl said. Sapnap grinned, “Yeah, it runs great I love it. You have one?” He asked. Karl nodded and looked around the room. There were posters all over the wall, of various bands and football players that he didn’t recognize. He had shelves with a few trophies and other awards on it, but a small creeper plush caught his eye. “A creeper,” he mumbled, not even realizing he spoke out loud. 

“You like minecraft too?” Sapnap asked, eyes wide. Karl nodded and he heard Dream cheer from his corner. “We all like it, it’s cool you do too!” he said. Karl had only found online friends who also liked minecraft, so finding 3 in real life was shocking. They talked for a while, and Karl progressively felt more comfortable with the group, happy that he found such wonderful people. 

It was only 9pm, but Sapnap was practically falling asleep as he stumbled over his words. He needed to sleep, considering he was desperately trying to keep himself upright. Karl noticed and scooted over, giving him space to lay down, which he took gladly. Dream shot him an apologetic glance, but Karl just shrugged and laughed. “I don’t mind,” he whispered in response. Within minutes of laying down, Sapnap had dozed off. Karl didn’t mind that he was asleep next to him, in fact he was quite happy with his situation. He didn’t think about what he was going to do after though, considering he was trapped between the wall and sleeping Sapnap. He also didn’t ask where he was supposed to sleep, and now he was a bit stuck. 

“Uh, Dream? Where do we sleep?” He asked. Dream looked up from his phone and shrugged. “Normally we just crash wherever, he won’t mind if you sleep there though,” he replied. Karl had no idea that Dream and George normally slept on the floor, and rarely slept near Sapnap, let alone on his bed. Karl nodded and laid down, though he wasn’t tired, his mind was busy racing with some new thoughts. Karl had come to the conclusion that Sapnap was hot.  **[a/n i debated writing this but it was too funny to not]** Slight issue however, the last thing he wanted to do was actually come out to him, let alone ask him out or anything. He didn’t think they were homophobic anything, especially not after Sapnap’s comment in the car he made, which he couldn’t stop thinking about. He was more nervous that his parents would find out somehow, because he knew for a fact they were homphobic. When Karl mentioned that Chris was bisexual, his parents got extremely angry with him for being okay with it, and even more mad that he was still friends with him. Since that day, Karl wasn’t allowed to see Chris anymore, and his parents still got mad even at the mention of him. He knew most people his age wouldn’t care about his sexuality, but he still started sweating even at the thought of revealing that aspect of his life. 

“George, you going to bed?” he heard Dream say. George mumbled in response, letting them know he was already half asleep. Dream chuckled and curled up in the beanbag chair, leaving Karl to get comfortable in Sapnap’s bed. He looked over to Sapnap, who was now peacefully sleeping facing him. He resisted the urge to move closer, mentally scolding himself for even thinking of that idea. He turned away from Sapnap so they faced the same way, and forced himself to sleep. 

The morning was shocking for the 4 of them, all for different reasons. Dream was the first to wake up, his back in pain from his unfortunate sleeping position. George was still asleep on the floor, a blanket haphazardly thrown over him. The biggest shock though, was Karl and Sapnap, who were spooning. Dream nearly let out a laugh, but tried his best to stay quiet and not wake them. He pulled out his phone and took a few pictures, before waking up George so he could see. The other two still hung on to each other closely, Karl’s back against Sapnap, who had his arms tightly around him. It was adorable, to put it simply, and when George woke up and saw it, he nearly started laughing as well. Karl started to shift his positioning, clearly beginning to wake up, so George and Dream quickly left the room. 

When Karl opened his eyes, all he wanted was to go back to sleep. He was warm, very warm, but thought nothing of it. He did, however, start thinking about it when the pillow behind him started to move. Karl practically froze, realizing he was not warm because of a blanket, but because he was the little spoon to Sapnap. Maybe it was the pure adrenaline rushing through his veins, or maybe it was the fact that he had just confirmed he had a crush on Sapnap, but he decided to stay where he was. If it was anyone else, he would move immediately, but something about him made him react completely differently. 

“Oh my god I am so sorry,” Sapnap practically yelled, pushing Karl off his chest. He was clearly embarrassed to wake up like that, so Karl tried to lighten the mood. “No worries, I was warm anyways,” he said smiling. You could see the fear leave Sapnap’s face, he was visibly worried about making Karl uncomfortable. “Okay, well then next time I get to be the little spoon,” he replied, making him blush. Karl decided in the moment he was going to be bold, losing all the worries he had previously. “I mean I guess you can be the little spoon, but not every time though,” he said, before getting out of bed and walking out of the room. Sapnap turned bright red, realizing he had just flirted with Karl, and more importantly Karl had flirted back. He got up and followed him out, finding his 3 friends in the kitchen. 

“Hey Sap,” George said, a smile growing on his face. Just by looking at Dream and George, he could tell they had seen him and Karl earlier. “Oh, hey guys, what do you want for breakfast?” Sapnap replied. 

“Me and Dream already ate, we were up before you guys,” George said, causing Dream to nod in agreement. “I think I’m gonna head home though, I’ve got a bit of a headache, Dream can you drive me?” George continued, looking at Dream. He immediately understood what George was trying to do and nodded, and the two got up and walked out the door. 

“Well, that was abrupt, what do you want?” Sapnap said, turning back to face Karl. He was a blushing mess, his face 3 different shades of pink and red. “Whatever you want is fine,” he mumbled. Sapnap nodded and grabbed a box of Cheerios from the cabinet, along with two bowls and two spoons. Karl shivered, his thin sweater was clearly not enough to keep him warm, but he hadn’t brought a change of clothes. “Cold?” Sapnap asked. Karl stared at him and didn’t respond, mostly because he was too embarrassed to say yes. Sapnap just sighed, took off his sweatshirt, and handed it to Karl. “Go change,” he said simply. Karl nodded and rushed out of the kitchen into Sapnap’s room. His mind was racing at the sheer thought of eating alone with Sapnap, let alone doing it while wearing his sweatshirt. He took off his sweater and winced in pain, accidentally brushing some of his bruises. He never wore short sleeves because of them, which he thought may be a problem in Florida, but he wasn’t going to change his ways. He slipped on Sapnap’s sweatshirt and was surrounded by its warmth. He took a deep breath into the fabric, and realized it smelled just like Sapnap. A mixture of sweat and cologne, any normal person would think it was a regular scent, but Karl could stay here with it in his head forever. 

“Karl, get your ass back down here I don’t like eating alone!” He heard Sapnap yell from the kitchen. He glanced into the mirror and tried to rub the blush off his face, only turning it more red. Rolling his eyes, he walked back into the kitchen and sat down in one of the barstools at the breakfast bar. Sapnap was staring at him, face growing increasingly red like Karl’s. They were just staring at each other, not moving or talking, before Karl quickly turned away and broke their eye contact. 

“My clothes look good on you,” Sapnap said. If he wasn’t a mess before, he sure as hell was now. Just a simple phrase like that made him practically melt in his seat. “You think?” he whispered quietly. Sapnap nodded and continued eating. As they finished up their breakfast, Karl was still experiencing the after effects of Sapnap’s comment, his face a dark crimson still. 

“What time you going home?” He asked. Karl looked up and then at the clock, which read 10:52am. Sapnap watched Karl’s face change from happiness to pure dread and fear. 

“What’s wrong? Karl are you okay?” He asked. Karl ran upstairs and grabbed his backpack before running back into the kitchen.    
“Take me home, please, right now,” he said in a panic. Sapnap just nodded and grabbed his keys, and the two walked out to his car. Sapnap got in the driver's seat and pulled out his phone to put in directions, but Karl stopped him. “Don’t, it’ll just waste time, I’ll tell you where to go,” he panicked. He started the car and pulled out of the driveway, still glancing at Karl’s scared face.

“Karl, please tell me what’s wrong, you look so scared,” Sapnap said softly. He just turned away and looked out the window, his hands fidgeting in his lap. “They are gonna be mad,” is all he said. Sapnap shot him a confused look, he couldn’t understand what Karl was saying. 

“Mad why?” He asked. Karl turned and looked at the clock, which now said 10:56, and tears formed in his eyes. “I’m gonna be late and they’re gonna be mad,” he struggled out. Sapnap took a hand off the wheel and placed it on Karl’s back, tracing slow circles into his shoulder blade. Karl flinched at the unexpected hand movement, and Sapnap understood everything. Why Karl never liked talking about his parents, why he was scared to talk to them on the phone, why his arm hurt when Sapnap grabbed it, why he was scared of the sudden movement of his arm. 

“Those sons of bitches,” he said, pulling over the car into an empty parking lot. Karl looked up at him with tears in his eyes. “Why’d you stop? I have to be home by elev-” He started to yell, but Sapnap stopped him.    
“They hit you, don’t they? Those bastards hit you,” he said angrily. Karl had never seen Sapnap’s face like this before, it scared him to see anyone mad, so his eyes started to water more. He didn’t respond, but his silence was plenty of a response for Sapnap, who was gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were white. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, realizing how scared Karl was at his anger. 

“I’m not taking you back there,” is all he said, before pulling out of the parking lot and driving back to his house. Karl’s eyes widened, he wanted to protest, knowing how angry his parents would be at him not coming home, but he knew it was safer for him to stay with Sapnap. He nodded and looked down at his shaking hands and legs, and tried to calm himself down. 

“Karl, listen to me okay? I don’t want you going back there knowing they might lay a hand on you, alright? I can’t bring you back, I just can’t. We will figure this out okay? When we get back home you have to talk to me though, otherwise I can’t help.” Karl nodded again and looked at Sapnap, who was also trying to calm himself from his anger, but he knew it was coming from a good place. The drive was silent until they got back home, where a new car was in the parking lot. 

“My mom is home, I’ll tell her not to bother us alright?” Sapnap said. They got out and walked inside, and upon seeing Karl’s face Sapnap’s mom rushed over to the two of them. 

“Karl, honey, what happened? Why are you crying?” She asked him. She turned to her son and looked him up and down, before realizing he wanted her to leave them alone. She gave the two a nod and walked back into the living room, allowing the two of them to go back to Sapnap’s bedroom. Once Sapnap closed his door and they sat down, Karl started crying. He couldn’t hold back his tears anymore, it was too overwhelming for him, so he just cried. Karl was sitting in the chair and Sapnap was on the bed, watching his friend break down in front of him. He was never really good at comforting people, so he just opened his arms and gestured for Karl to come to him. He got up from his chair and sat next to Sapnap, allowing him to be wrapped in a soft hug. Sapnap was careful to not hug him too tightly, he didn’t want to hurt him, even though all he wanted to do was hold him as tight as he could. Karl continued to cry quietly, his voice muffled in his shirt. Sapnap thought for a moment before pulling Karl into his lap, and the two were now facing each other. He pulled him in to another hug, now able to fully wrap himself around the other, and let him cry. 

They stayed there for 5 minutes, before Karl’s phone started to ring, causing him to shake. “Don’t answer if it’s either of your parents,” Sapnap said softly. Karl pulled out his phone and the caller id read ‘Dad.’ Sapnap shook his head and grabbed Karl’s phone out of his hands, and threw it to the other side of his bed. 

“Talk to me,” he said. Karl was no longer crying, so he took a deep breath and decided to tell Sapnap everything. Everything. 

“It’s both of them, they hit me. I don’t know why, and it’s been like this for as long as I can remember. Any time I don’t do exactly what they want me to, they turn violent, especially my dad. He scares me a lot, I don’t know how to make him stop doing it. It’s gotten worse since we moved, I thought it would get better.” He said, all in one breath. “He’s really homophobic, and he found out my old friend wasn’t straight and he took it out on me really badly, that’s the worst that it ever was. I’m just so scared, he reacted like that when my friend was bi, I don’t know how the fuck I’m supposed to tell him,” he paused, unsure if he should continue. Sapnap nodded and rubbed his back, calming him down. “I’m scared for him to know that I’m gay. I’m afraid he’ll take it too far and I’ll get really hurt, like really bad. I don’t know what to do.” Karl finished. Sapnap said nothing, still gently rocking him in his lap. 

“I hate them,” is all he replied with. Karl’s eyes filled with tears, he wasn’t sure what Sapnap meant by what he said. 

“Karl, listen to me. They already took it too far, this isn’t normal, what they do to you. No parent should ever hit their kid, especially for something stupid like being homophobic. I’m not bringing you back there, you understand me? You’re staying here for today, I refuse to take you back to them,” he said. Karl nodded into Sapnap’s shoulder. “And another thing, I’m really proud of you for telling me, alright? I know that must have been really hard, and I’m so proud that you told me,” he finished. Karl hugged Sapnap tighter, and he understood that Karl never received this sort of affection. Karl was still shaking, so Sapnap decided to hum a song into his ear, hoping to calm him down. 

It had been 20 minutes, 20 minutes of Sapnap and Karl sitting together, 20 minutes of Karl being calmed down by his friend. “Karl?” Sapnap said softly. Karl lifted his head off Sapnap’s shoulder and leaned back, making eye contact with him. Sapnap just smiled and looked at him, before lightly kissing him on the forehead. His heart fluttered at the gesture, and his face grew warm. 

“I have to go tell my parents you’re staying, they won’t mind,” he said. Karl nodded and slid off of Sapnap’s lap onto the bed. He got up and walked out to the kitchen, leaving him alone in Sapnap’s room. Karl touched his forehead, the spot where Sapnap had kissed him, and smiled. It was then that Karl had decided to show Sapnap his arms and legs, to show him what his parents had done to him. Sapnap walked back into the room and Karl looked up at him, and without saying anything he rolled up his sleeves. Sapnap’s eyes widened as he looked at his arms, which were sprinkled with cuts and bruises. He reached out and looked at Karl for his approval to touch his arms, and received a nod. He flipped them over, revealing scars on his wrists and forearms, along with darker, more recent bruises. He could tell some of the cuts were a result of what his parents had done, but the few that were in a line stood out to him, they were purposeful. 

“Karl,” he whispered, it was all he could say. It looked so painful, he couldn’t even imagine what it felt like for someone to touch them. Karl pointed to the lines on his wrist, making Sapnap look up at him. “Those were from a few months ago, but they’re still healing,” he said softly. 

He shifted his hand and pointed to other various cuts and bruises, explaining each one and when it happened. The final one, a large, deep purple spot on his upper arm, he explained was from only a few days ago. Sapnap grabbed Karl’s sweatshirt sleeve and carefully rolled it back down, hiding his arms once more. He couldn’t bear to look at what they had done to him, and he couldn’t imagine how Karl felt staring at them for so long. He grabbed Karl’s hand and pulled him up, so the two were standing, and pulled him into another hug. He rested his chin on Karl’s head, whose face was pushed into his chest.  **[a/n just for a quick reference for this story, Dream is 6’3, Sapnap is 6’1, George is 5’10, and Karl is 5’9]** Sapnap wanted nothing more than to hold him there forever, carefully cradled in his arms. He took a deep breath into Karl’s hair and subtly kissed the top of his head. While he wouldn’t be opposed to Karl feeling it, he didn’t want Karl to think he was taking advantage of his vulnerability.

“Can we take a nap?” Karl asked quietly voice muffled into Sapnap’s t-shirt. Sapnap nodded and Karl laid down on his bed, snuggling himself under the covers. Sapnap slowly placed himself next to him, unsure of how close to get to Karl. His question was answered by Karl wrapping an arm around his torso and laying his head on his chest. Sapnap took in a sharp breath at Karl’s warmth, before getting comfortable himself. 

He knew Karl’s parents would start to call again, so before dozing off he grabbed his phone and powered it off, making sure it wouldn’t disturb them. Karl rested peacefully on his chest, already asleep because of how much he cried. Sapnap wished he could take a picture, so he could look at his soft sleepy face forever. He stared at the ceiling before closing his eyes, drifting to sleep as Karl did. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wc - 4344 
> 
> lemme tell ya it is difficult to write someone crying, especially karl, makes ya emotional n shit smh
> 
> go drink some water if youre reading this, and also check out my other works as well o-o


	5. safe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> // mentions of abuse & homophobia,,,,

They were woken by the sound of a light knocking on the door, making Karl jump and sit up. Sapnap followed suit and put his hand on Karl’s back, letting him know he was safe. 

“Nick, honey, I made you two some lunch, come eat when you’re ready,” His mother said softly. Sapnap sighed and started to get up out of bed, but Karl still sat frozen in place. “Karl, you’re okay, you’re safe here, we should go eat,” Sapnap whispered to him. He looked up and made eye contact, before nodding and slowly getting out of the bed. It was nearly 1pm now, 2 hours after Karl’s parents expected him to be home. Karl glanced at the clock and his face dropped, scared of what they would say. Before leaving the room Sapnap looked at Karl, sympathy practically dripping off of his face, and pulled him into a calming hug. “I won’t let them hurt you,” he hummed, holding Karl in his arms. Karl nodded again and they walked down the stairs, finding both of Sapnap’s parents talking quietly in the kitchen. Sapnap tried his best to shoot them a look of ‘not right now, please’ but it simply couldn’t be conveyed to them properly.    
“I wasn’t sure what you wanted so I just left out sandwich ingredients for you both, we should talk after you finish eating,” his dad said. Sapnap gave them a quick nod and grabbed some of the food on the counter, bringing them to the dining room where he told Karl to sit. 

“What kind of sandwich are you thinking?” he asked gleefully, hoping to cheer Karl up. “I’ll just have whatever you’re having, I don’t care,” he mumbled. Sapnap decided on pb&j’s, everyone liked a good pb&j, right?  **[a/n: people who are allergic to nuts reading this rn ...]**

Karl was still quiet, and it was obvious he was still thinking about his parents. Sapnap was struggling to figure out what he could do to help, he had begun to realize he didn’t really know what Karl liked. He tried thinking back to their previous conversations when he got an idea. 

“After we eat we could play minecraft?” Sapnap suggested. Karl’s face lit up and he smiled. “Yeah, that would be nice.” He nodded and handed Karl his sandwich, and the two ate in a comfortable silence. Sapnap’s mom walked into the dining room and stood at the table, across from Karl, making him shy away farther into his seat. It was clear Karl was even scared of Sapnaps parents, so he tried his best to keep him calm. “Hey mom, can Karl stay here for a while?” He asked. Her eyebrows furrowed and she gave him a questioning expression. “Why? Is something wrong?” She said. Sapnap nodded slowly. “Yeah, I’ll talk to you later about it if that’s alright?” He responded. He didn’t want Karl to be in the room while he told them, assuming Karl didn’t like talking about or hearing the subject. Sapnap’s mom nodded and she smiled at Karl, “Karl, you can stay however long you need,” she said. Karl nodded, a relieved look washing over his face, and unclenched his jaw.

They finished their food and Sapnap took their dishes to the sink and rinsed them. Karl still sat in the dining room, but he was now at least looking around unlike before. Sapnap walked back into the dining room and stood next to Karl’s chair, waiting for him to get up, but he stayed in place.    
“Karl? You wanna go back upstairs?” He asked softly. Karl looked up and stared at him, still not moving. “They’re nice, why are they letting me stay?” Sapnap sighed and squatted down so he was at eye level with Karl. “They’re just decent humans, Karl. You’ll get to see okay? You’ll like them, I promise,” he said. Karl nodded and placed his head into the crook of Sapnap’s neck. “Upstairs?” Sapnap asked again. Karl nodded again and stood up, and the two walked back to Sapnap’s room. Karl wasn’t particularly in the mood to play anything, but he enjoyed the thought of watching Sapnap play instead.

“Can I just watch you play instead?” Karl whispered. He nodded and sat down in his chair, before realizing it was the only one he had in his room. Without a second thought he gestured for him to sit on his lap. Karl’s eyes widened and he gave him a questioning look, but Sapnap held his ground. “C’mere, I don’t have another chair,” he said. Karl slowly walked over and sat on Sapnap’s lap, getting comfortable almost immediately. He let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding in, and relaxed slightly, feeling safe in Sapnap’s presence. Sapnap paused before grabbing his keyboard and mouse, instead picking up his controller. 

“Bedrock will probably be easier with you sitting there I think,” he said, loading up a new world. He had his arms around Karls waist, and his hands rested on Karl’s lap, comfortably holding the controller. Neither of them moved, both feeling relaxed by the warmth of the other. 

Less than 2 minutes into the new world, Sapnap’s phone rang, making Karl tense up. They had the same ringtone, so Sapnap quickly picked up the call to stop it, hoping it would calm Karl down. He didn’t read the caller ID, but it didn’t matter because he could tell who was on the line. “Dream, I’m sorry, I can’t talk right now, maybe later yeah?” He said, interrupting Dream’s hello. Karl couldn’t exactly hear Dream on the other end or what he was saying, but he didn’t need to, because Sapnap hung up shortly after. “I need to tell him you’re staying with me, what do you want me to text him?” He asked. “He already knows, you can tell the truth,” Karl said quietly. Sapnap’s eyes widened and he put his controller down. 

“You told him? When?” he questioned. Karl sighed and let out a breathy laugh, confusing Sapnap. “During your practice, he asked why I was so scared to talk to my dad, and I felt like I could trust you guys,” he said. Sapnap smiled and wrapped his arms tightly around Karl’s torso, resting his head on his shoulder. “Of course you can trust us, we’re your friends,” he whispered into Karl’s ear. Karl then smiled as well, the happy realization that he had found people who actually care about him sinking in. 

“Thank you,” was all he said, looking up at the ceiling. “For what?” Sapnap asked. Karl just shook his head. “Everything. You’re so nice to me, and you care about me, like actually care about me. And you don’t judge me for anything and you’re letting me stay here and you’re just doing everything right for me,” he said in one breath. Sapnap smiled again, carefully calculating his next moves. In one swift motion, he flipped Karl over so they were facing each other, Karl still sitting on his lap. Sapnap out his arms back around him and pulled him in for a tight and caring hug, still being cautious of his bruises. “There isn’t much I wouldn’t do for you Karl,” he said. He could feel Karl take a sharp breath at the comment, but wasn’t able to see his face, which was bright red. Sapnap realized how much he found himself hugging Karl, and how much he always enjoyed it. He wanted nothing more than to kiss him, which was probably bad considering he was supposed to be comforting him right now. He traced small shapes into Karl’s back as they sat, spelling random words into his shoulder blade. 

“Are you writing something?” Karl whispered into his ear. Sapnap laughed and shook his head, not realizing he was paying so much attention to that. “No, but I could? You wanna try to guess what I write?” He asked. Karl nodded and Sapnap decided what he was going to say. The phrase ‘I like you’ kept circling in his head, but he pushed it away. Instead he settled on some song lyrics from the song he was humming earlier. Karl giggled at the feeling of Sapnap’s hand on his back, accidentally letting him know that he was ticklish. Sapnap stopped for a moment, “you’re ticklish?” he said between laughs. Karl buried his head farther into Sapnap’s neck, hiding his red face. Sapnap just shook his head and continued writing into his back. 

Eventually, Karl got the lyrics right, and they celebrated together. “Do another one,” Karl said. It was getting harder and harder for Sapnap to resist the urge to write ‘I like you’ into his back. He thought about the position they were sitting in, Karl on top of him, head in his neck, and decided to just go for it. He slowly wrote ‘I like you’ one letter at a time into his back, but Karl wasn’t getting it. He repeated it again, and felt Karl suck in a sharp breath of air. “Again, write it again,” Karl said. He did, again and again, cementing it in. Karl pulled away and looked at him, eyes wider than ever. 

“Say it,” he breathed out. Sapnap smiled and realized Karl understood what he wrote. “I like you Karl, a lot actually,” he said softly. Karl smiled and his eyes started to water, normally he would control his emotions, but he didn’t care right now. Sapnap smiled and put his hand in Karl’s hair, lightly swirling his fingers around the individual strands. He smiled, and the two sat for a while just looking at each other. 

“I like you too, a lot actually,” Karl said, repeating what Sapnap had said. He laughed and shook his head, before pushing Karl back into his neck. Karl had never been more comfortable, never felt more safe than he did in that moment. Sapnap still had his hand on the back of Karl’s head, and he decided to pull him back slightly. He placed a soft kiss on Karl’s cheek, something he had been wanting to do for a while. Karl smiled and his face turned a deep red, causing Sapnap to kiss him again. Their faces were now pressed together, and Sapnap could feel Karl’s eyelashes fluttering on his cheek. Karl placed both his hands on Sapnap’s cheeks and pulled back from their hug. 

Sapnap’s eyes widened, and it was that moment when he realized he didn’t just like Karl, he loved him. He loved everything about him, from his laugh to the way he walked, from how his eyes created a beautiful mixture of brown and green, to how he smiled when he was embarrassed. How quickly his face turned red when he spoke to him, or how easily he could curl himself up into a ball when sleeping. Karl was still watching Sapnap, their eyes locking for what felt like hours. Sapnap pushed his face into Karls, before kissing him lightly on the lips. He practically melted at the sweetness of it, at how much it made him feel like he was walking on air. They kissed again, and again, enjoying each other’s presence, and for the first time Karl didn’t care about anything. It was the first time he wasn’t thinking about his family, or thinking about what they did to him. He didn’t care because he felt truly loved by someone, and that was a feeling he never wanted to let go of. 

They were interrupted by a soft knock on the door, and Karl quickly got up and sat on the bed. “Come in,” Sapnap said. His mother opened the door and shot Karl a sympathetic look.    
“I’m sorry, I hate to do this, but I really need to know why you’re staying here. You’re a minor, so your parents could call the police if they don’t know where you are. They do know you’re here, right?” She said. Karl stiffened and his eyes filled with tears at the thought of going back home. She noticed Karl’s face and looked at Sapnap, who desperately wanted to comfort him. Sapnap looked between the two of them before getting up out of his seat and motioning his mother to follow, leaving Karl alone in his room. 

“It’s his parents, mom. I can’t bring him back there, they are horrible people, I don’t know what to do, he isn’t safe there,” he said frantically. “I know he can’t stay forever but I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do, I won't let him go back, I can’t,” he continued. His mother placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down. “Nick, sweetie, calm down, you’re breathing too heavily. He can stay here for a little while, but you have to tell me everything so I know what to do to help,” she said softly. Sapnap nodded, tears now making his vision blurry. 

“They hit him, a lot, I’ve seen what they do to him and it’s horrible,” he whispered, trying to keep his voice steady. Her eyes widened and she nodded, clearly not realizing until now how bad it was. “Okay, honey, we can talk about this later with your father, we can help him alright?” She said. Sapnap nodded. “Go back, he needs you right now,” she continued, giving him a knowing smile. Sapnap didn’t know this, but his mother could see how much he loved Karl, and how deeply he cared for him. She walked away and Sapnap went back to his room, finding Karl sitting in the same position he left him in. 

“You’re staying here until we can get CPS involved, I’m not letting you leave my side,” he said. Karl nodded, thankful he didn’t have to leave. “And my parents are gonna help too, they want you to be safe as well, okay?” Karl nodded again and moved over slightly, silently telling Sapnap to sit next to him. He obliged, sitting close to him. Karl moved again and laid his head down on Sapnap’s lap, and Sapnap put his hand on Karl’s side. 

“I don’t want to go to school on monday,” Karl said absentmindedly. Sapnap laughed and nodded, “yeah, neither do I, maybe we’ll just stay home,” he replied. “Home,” Karl repeated, making Sapnap’s heart flutter. “Yeah, this is home for now,” he said, and Karl smiled. He ran his fingers through Karl’s hair, calming him down as much as possible. His phone buzzed, a text notification, and he realized he never texted Dream back. “Shit,” he muttered under his breath. Karl sat up and stared at him with an eyebrow raised. Sapnap sighed and dialed Dream, who picked up immediately. He put it on speaker so Karl could talk and listen. 

“Hey Dream, Karl’s with me,” he said.    
“Yo, hey Karl, why are you still there? I thought you would have to be home by now, is everything alright?” Dream said, suddenly worried. Sapnap smiled, happy that Dream cared so much as well. “He’s staying with me for a while, I didn’t want to take him back to his parents,” he said. Dream sighed through the phone. “I don’t blame you, how long is he staying?” He asked. 

“Not sure, probably until we can get CPS involved with the whole thing,” Sapnap replied. Karl smiled at him, looking at his features carefully. His face was soft, everything about him was so caring and wonderful. 

“That’s good to hear, maybe me and George can come over tomorrow or something, I still have a shit ton of homework I don’t wanna do by myself,” he said. The two laughed and Sapnap agreed to let them come over. “Yeah, that’s chill, just text me the plans or something,” he said. Dream hummed in agreement before saying goodbye and hanging up. 

“I think we did everything out of order, I was supposed to get your number first,” Karl said. Sapnap giggled and shook his head. “I don’t care about what order it was supposed to be in, I like it how it is now,” he replied, kissing the tip of Karl’s nose. “True,” Karl said, returning the gesture. 

The next 4 hours consisted of light conversations, lots of cuddling, and a fair amount of minecraft. Sapnap was about to kill the ender dragon when he heard a shout from downstairs, his dad calling them for dinner. The small distraction was enough for him to lose focus, causing him to miss his water bucket and fall from a high place. Karl laughed at his misfortune, and Sapnap shot him a fake angry look for his reaction, before bursting out laughing too. Together, they got up and walked downstairs into the kitchen, where his dad was finishing cooking eggs. 

“Breakfast for dinner!” He cheered. Sapnap rolled his eyes and subconsciously grabbed Karl’s hand to lead him to the table. Karl shook him off immediately, making it obvious he was scared of Sapnap’s parents seeing it. Sapnap made a mental note to himself to tell Karl his parents didn’t care, but he realized he technically didn’t know how they felt about it. He wanted to come out to them, to just rip the bandaid off, but he wasn’t ready for the small chance that they wouldn’t take it well. The two sat down, and shortly after his parents sat as well. 

“You like eggs?” His mom asked Karl. He nodded eagerly and took a small amount onto his plate.    
“Jesus Karl, that’s like nothing, you can have more,” Sapnap joked. Karl looked down at his plate, confused. “What?” He responded. Sapnap took his plate and scooped on more eggs. “There, that’s more like it,” he said. Karl still was confused, his plate felt so full, like he had taken a lot. He didn’t want to be yelled at for taking too much, so he started to put some back, but Sapnap stopped him again. “No, eat that, that’s what a normal portion is,” he said, understanding Karl was confused. “Oh, okay,” he mumbled, picking up his fork and taking a bite. It was wonderful, cooked to perfection. 

“This is amazing, thank you so much,” he said to Sapnap’s parents. They both smiled in response. “Don’t worry about it, this is just a normal family meal, it’s fine,” His dad said. It was clear that Sapnap’s mom had told his dad everything that Sapnap had said. Karl smiled and continued to eat, practically shoveling down his food at that point. He wasn’t surprised, Sapnap had realized the other day that Karl didn’t eat much when he was at home, considering every time they were together he ate like he hadn’t seen food in days. 

The 4 ate in a silence you could cut through with a knife, everyone dodging the elephant in the room. Normally, the family was loud and talkative, laughing their way through their meals, but today was different. Sapnap hoped Karl would get more comfortable with his family, considering he didn’t know how long he was staying with them. By the time they were finished, Karl had decided he wanted to take a shower, so Sapnap gave him a towel and showed him to the shower. Karl thanked him and closed the bathroom door, leaving Sapnap alone. It was then that he decided he was going to come out to his parents, he knew he needed to figure out if they were okay with it to finish telling them everything about Karl’s situation. 

“Hey guys? Can we talk for a second?” Sapnap said, walking back to the kitchen where his parents were washing the dishes. “Sure sweetie, what’s up?” His mom said, pausing her scrubbing on a plate. “Well two things actually, the first thing is that I’m bisexual,” he said, watching his parents closely for a reaction. His dad's eyes widened, but he stayed quiet. His mom on the other hand laughed briefly before shaking her head. “Yeah, I knew already, we don’t care who you love, hon,” she said simply, returning to the dishes. Sapnap sighed a breath of relief. He was about to continue before his mom cut him off. 

“Have you told him yet?” She asked, still focusing on the dishes. 

“What? What do you mean?” He replied, confused. She laughed again, “Karl, have you told him you liked him yet?” Sapnap froze in place, staring at her. She looked up, still waiting for an answer to her question. 

“Yeah, actually, I did,” he breathed out. “But that’s besides the point, the second thing is much more important,” he said, shaking his head. They stopped again to listen, so he continued, “his parents are really homophobic, it got really bad when they found out one of his friends back home was bisexual, so just please keep that in mind, it’s hard for him to talk about so try your best to be nothing but supportive, please,” he said. His mom dried her hands and walked over to him, pulling him into a hug. “Of course, we would never be anything else other than supportive,” she said. He sighed again, relieved they were so caring towards him. His dad was never really too talkative, so he wasn’t expecting any response from him. His silence told him plenty, that he would act the same way as his mom, and he was grateful. He heard the shower shut off from upstairs and pulled away from his mother, “He needs clothes to change into, so I gotta go,” he said. His parents nodded and he walked upstairs to the bathroom. 

“Karl?” He said, knocking on the door. There was no response, so he knocked again, this time a little harder. “Karl? You okay in there? It’s me, I have a change of clothes for you,” he said. He heard a small noise of approval from inside and opened the door. 

He had a pair of his sweatpants and a t-shirt for him to wear, knowing it was supposed to be warm that night. Karl was standing in a towel in front of the mirror, and Sapnap looked him up and down. If his arms weren’t bad enough, his chest was significantly worse, larger bruises covering the right side of his ribcage. He could see the tears forming in Karl’s eyes as Sapnap looked at him, he was clearly embarrassed about what he looked like. Sapnap set the clothes down on the counter and gave him a quick hug of reassurance. 

“You’re beautiful, alright? Don’t let these make you think any differently,” he said, before kissing him softly on the forehead. Karl nodded and grabbed the clothes, so Sapnap let go of him and walked out of the bathroom, leaving him to change. 

Karl walked out a few minutes later, still teary-eyed. Sapnap was laying on his bed scrolling through twitter, and Karl sat down next to him. “Can I have something to cover these?” He said, gesturing at his arms. Sapnap sighed, unsure of how to respond. 

“Karl, it’s supposed to be really hot tonight, I don’t want you to overheat in a sweatshirt,” he said softly, brushing a wet curl out of his eyes. “I don’t mind them, you know? You don’t have to worry about that.” Karl shook his head and looked down. “I know you don’t, but what about your parents? Won’t they think I’m weird?” He said. Sapnap’s eyes widened and he shook his head frantically.    
“Oh god no, they would never judge you for something like that, never.” Sapnap sat up and grabbed Karl’s hand, pulling him closer to his chest. Karl readjusted and got comfortable, and Sapnap decided to distract him by turning on a movie instead. 

“What movie is this?” He asked. Sapnap just shrugged, he had no idea what he turned on, he had just selected at random. 

“No clue, it’s random,” he replied. Karl laughed and leaned closer into Sapnap, who wrapped his hand around him in response. They sat and watched the movie, which turned out to be Legally Blonde, something they both enjoyed. Sapnap shifted his gaze between the TV and Karl, amazed at how pretty he was even after crying earlier. Karl looked up at him and the two made eye contact, and Karl pushed himself up to kiss him. Sapnap smiled and brought him in again, wrapping his hand around the back of Karl’s neck. Karl smiled too, overwhelmingly happy about his current situation. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this much joy, and he was grateful Sapnap was the cause of it. The movie switched off and changed to another one, a Star Wars classic, and they both watched again. 

It was almost 11 by the time it ended, and despite sleeping in and taking a nap that day, they were both extremely tired. Sapnap turned off the TV and laid down more from his previous half sitting half lying position. Karl copied his movements, before a wide grin formed on his face. 

“What?” Sapnap asked, only making Karl giggle. “You wanted to be the little spoon, I thought?” He replied. Sapnap rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around Karl. “Yeah, yeah, maybe another day, I wanna hug you tonight,” he said through a yawn. Karl chuckled and made himself comfortable in Sapnap’s arms. It felt like heaven to him, being cradled by Sapnap and falling asleep next to him. 

It was then that Karl realized he loved him. He loved his smile, and the way he hugged him when he noticed he was sad. The way he laughed at all of Karl’s dumb jokes, and comforted him when he needed it. The way he agreed to letting Karl stay in his home without a second thought, just because he wanted to keep him safe. 

“Goodnight, Karl,” Sapnap mumbled, already half asleep.    
“Goodnight Sap,” Karl replied. “I love you,” he whispered, too quiet for him to hear. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wc - 4322 i think
> 
> look man im sorry for so much angst but mans gotta do what mans gotta do   
> im also planning to make a college au sequal to this? maybe good idea pog? either way i think its about halfway done, we still have the whole dnf part to figure out so
> 
> anywaysss go drink some water and make sure you ate today B) <3


	6. arcade

Dream pulled into George’s driveway, ready to pick him up for the day to go to Sapnap’s house. He was the only one who didn’t know what was happening with Karl, so he planned on telling him on the way there. He didn’t have to tell George he had arrived, as his front door was already opening. Out stepped George, who was dressed in a crewneck and jeans, his usual outfit. Dream sighed and ruffled a hand through his hair, making sure it looked good. 

“Mornin!” George yelled, getting into his car. “Good morning,” Dream replied softly. George’s face dropped at the tone difference between the two. 

“Something wrong?” He asked. Dream pulled out of the driveway and started to head to Sapnap’s house. “Actually yeah, I have to tell you a few things before we get to Sap’s,” he replied. George nodded and gestured for him to continue. 

“Okay, to sum it up a bit, Karl is staying at Sapnap’s house for a while to stay away from his parents. I’m sure you saw how he acted when he was talking to them, it’s because they are abusive. I’m not sure how long he’s saying, but Sap’s parents are trying to get CPS involved so they can stop them,” he said. George’s face was filled with a mixture of shock, anger, and sadness. “Is it bad?” He whispered. Dream winced at the memory of Karl’s arms. 

“Yeah, it is, I wouldn’t recommend talking about it with him unless he brings it up though,” he said. George nodded again and they drove in silence. Sapnap and George lived pretty close to one another, so the drive was short, and they soon pulled into his driveway. Dream and George knew where the spare key was, they had for years, so they let themselves in. His parents were sitting in the living room, and they looked up at them and waved. “They’re upstairs,” his mom said. They nodded and took off their shoes, running up the stairs to Sapnap’s room.

“Good morning!” Dream yelled as he barged into Sapnap’s room. He really should have knocked. Sapnap and Karl were sitting in his desk chair together, peacefully playing minecraft. It was adorable, to say the least, but noticeably more than just a ‘friendly’ position. 

“No way,” George whispered, looking at Sapnap with wide eyes. Sapnap just laughed and picked up Karl, placing him down on the bed. 

“You can go back to sleep if you want to,” he whispered to Karl, who was only half awake and clearly confused. He just nodded and tucked himself farther into Sapnap’s covers, before falling back to sleep immediately. After a few seconds of Dream and George standing in the doorway dumbfounded, Sapnap shrugged and looked back down at the now sleeping Karl. 

“Yes way, might I add,” he said. Dream grinned and George still stood staring at them. 

“That was fast,” was all he said in response. Sapnap got up and punched him lightly in the shoulder. “Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m not complaining though,” he said. They set down their bags, which they had brought to do homework, and got in their usual seats, Dream on the beanbag, George in the desk chair, and Sapnap on the bed. It was like an unspoken rule that they had, a silent agreement with what their seating arrangements were. 

“Well, are you going to explain?” George said, literally and metaphorically on the edge of his seat. Sapnap shrugged in response, getting comfortable while trying to avoid Karl’s legs under the blanket. 

“I mean, there isn’t much to explain really, I told him I liked him and he told me he liked me back, that’s all it was,” he said simply. Dream stared at him, mouth agape. “Just like that huh?” He asked. Sapnap nodded and put his hand in Karl’s hair to play with it, tracing figure 8s into his head. Dream watched and a feeling rose in his chest, something he hadn’t felt before. As he racked his brain for what it was, he landed on jealousy, he just couldn’t figure out why. He wasn’t jealous of either Sapnap or Karl, so what could he possibly be so worked up about? It was then that it hit him. He was jealous of the two of them, of what they had. He was jealous because he wanted that exact thing, except with George. 

He had realized months ago that he had feelings for George, but never told anyone about them. He liked their friendship where it was, and he didn’t want to mess anything up with them. So he just shut up about it, and closed off those feelings as much as he could. He was only able to suppress them for so long, and considering they weren’t going away he was forced to start the long journey of accepting them instead. 

“I’m happy for you,” he said, with as much enthusiasm as he could. It seemed to pass pretty well, because neither of them asked about it. The 3 talked for about another hour, before Karl started to stir. 

“Karl, you okay?” Sapnap hummed. Dream wasn’t able to see him, but judging by Sapnap’s tone something was probably wrong. Karl opened his eyes and let out a sharp breath. 

“Yeah, I’m okay, just a nightmare,” Karl said quietly. Sapnap sighed and pulled him into a hug. Karl, who was now much more aware of his surroundings, realized Dream and George were sitting in the room. He ripped himself away from Sapnap upon seeing them and started breathing heavily. George’s eyes widened, he was the first to understand why Karl had reacted.    
“Karl, it’s okay, we don’t care about your sexuality or anything like that,” George said. Dream nodded and hummed in agreement, and relief filled Karl’s face. Sapnap released him from the hug and the four looked at each other and Dream got an idea.    
“We should go somewhere today, it’s only noon,” he said, getting up out of the beanbag. George nodded, getting up as well, and finally Sapnap got up, pulling Karl along with him. They walked downstairs and told Sapnap’s parents they were going out, who simply waved them off and told them to be safe.

They got into Sapnap’s car and sat there for a moment, before George started laughing. Everyone turned to him, only making him laugh harder and simultaneously making them more confused. “What are we even doing today,” he said after a while. Dream rolled his eyes, “I don’t know, we should get something to eat first though, I’m literally starving.” The other three nodded their heads and let out various hums of agreement, so Sapnap pulled out of the driveway. 

As they drove, they settled on going to a local burger place to eat lunch. George and Dream talked loudly in the back seat, arguing over something involving cheating at a minecraft speedrun. It was surprisingly nice background noise, that and the music from the radio mixing with it. Karl had his hand on the center console, and Sapnap decided to grab it subtly, making them hold hands. Karl’s face lit up at the gesture and he smiled, for the first time not caring if someone else saw him. At this point it had been over 24 hours since he was supposed to go home, and well over 36 since he last spoke to his parents. He grabbed Sapnap’s hand tighter, trying to force away those thoughts and enjoy his time with his friends. Sapnap picked up on this though, realizing Karl was probably worried again, and began tracing shapes into his thumb. It had worked last time, so he just hoped it would have the same effect again. 

“Are you spelling something again?” Karl asked quietly. Sapnap shook his head, “no, but I can,” he responded, receiving a sharp nod from Karl. He thought up a poem he had heard long ago and began to trace each letter into Karl’s hand as he drove. The mixture of that, the soft music from the car’s radio, and the sound of Dream and George still bickering in the backseat was somehow the perfect blend to calm Karl.    
“Karl, what are you getting?” Dream asked, looking between him and the cashier. Karl looked at the menu for a moment, before settling on something small. “I’ll just have fries,” he said. Dream raised his brow before relaying the message to the cashier and paying. Dream and George had both gotten their own burgers, and Sapnap had gotten chicken tenders. The 4 sat down in a booth, Dream across from Sapnap and George across from Karl. Sapnap grabbed Karl’s hand under the table, this time unsure if he would keep it there. He knew Karl was scared of his parents finding out, but he hadn’t realized he was scared of anyone finding out until his reaction to Dream and George seeing them earlier that morning. Karl looked down at his now filled hand, but said nothing and continued his conversation with George. Sapnap loved how well the 4 of them clicked, it was like Karl had known them their whole lives.    
“Hey Sap?” Dream said, catching his attention. 

“What’s up?” He replied. Dream paused for a moment to look at Karl, then back at Sapnap. 

“He only got fries, and you said you guys hadn’t eaten today,” he said. Sapnap sighed and gripped Karl’s hand tighter, but he didn’t notice as he was deep in conversation. 

“It’s his parents fault, I think. I don’t think they let him eat a lot when he was at home or with them at meals. I have a feeling that effect wore off on his eating habits a bit,” he said softly. He wasn’t totally sure if that was true, but by the looks of it most of Karl’s problems rooted back to his parents, so it was a good guess. Dream just nodded and took a sip of his drink.    
“I’ll share with him, I got chicken tenders anyways, so it won’t be too hard,” he continued, causing Dream to shake his head again. 

“Alright guys, who got the double stack burger?” The waitress who was now standing at their table asked. Dream reached out and grabbed the plate, and the waitress continued to hand out the rest of the food. Sapnap placed a piece of his chicken onto Karl’s plate, which only had fries on it. Karl hesitated, about to reach out to return it back to him, but Sapnap stopped him.

“A few fries isn’t enough to eat, especially if it’s the first thing you’ve had all day. Just try to have this as well, okay? If you can’t then that’s alright, but you should at least try,” he said. Karl nodded and placed his hand back down. Sapnap gave him a reassuring smile before grabbing a piece of his own and taking a bite. The four ate in silence for a few minutes, quietly enjoying their food, until George decided to break it. 

“I think we should go to an arcade today,” he said, before looking around to gage the reaction of the table. Sapnap and Dream both smiled and nodded eagerly, but Karl just sat there with no reaction. 

“I’ve never been to one,” he said. Now it was his turn to look around for a reaction, and he was met with 3 gasps and 3 voices at once. “Oh my god that means we’re going then,” “How have you never been to an arcade?!” “Hell yeah, this is gonna be so fun,” Karl giggled at the sudden outburst of shock from such a small thing, but decided he wanted to go. “Okay, sounds like fun.” The conversation continued, mainly consisting of Karl listening to everyone talk about their favorite games and what they were going to play.

  
“It’s sort of a long drive to the good arcade, so everyone buckle up,” Sapnap said from the driver's seat. George groaned and stomped his feet lightly, causing Dream to laugh. “Oh my god you’re such a baby, just take a nap or something,” he said between fits of laughter. George punched his arm and mumbled something under his breath, too quiet for anyone to understand. 

“What was that George?” Dream sneered, his tone overwhelmingly playful. George huffed and turned to the window. “Oh come on now,” Dream started.    
“I would love to take a nap, but there’s no way in hell I’ll be able to get comfortable in this stupid car,” George grumbled, getting a reaction out of both Dream and Sapnap. Sapnap faked offense at the comment about his car, defending it and saying how great it was. “Just lay down then, George, what’s the big deal?” Dream said. George looked down at the seat, which wasn’t necessarily big enough for him to curl up in, and sighed. 

“I’m using you as a pillow because I’m mad at you,” he said quietly, shifting his position. Dream shook his head, “how does that make any sense?” He said, laughing in between his words. George rolled his eyes and unbuckled his seat belt to lay down. “Shut up, last time I checked pillows don’t talk,” he huffed. George plopped himself down aggressively onto Dream’s thigh and closed his eyes, wanting to fall asleep immediately. Sapnap started the car and they began driving to the arcade, which was roughly an hour away. Dream quickly got comfortable as well, his arm snaked around George’s waist subtly.

About 20 minutes in, Karl and Sapnap looked at the two of them and then at each other, before laughing quietly. “Holy shit,” Karl said. Dream was asleep now as well, head resting on his seatbelt. The real kicker though, the reason why they were laughing, was that Dream and Georges faces were both bright red, clearly enjoying but embarrassed about their sleeping position. 

“They are oblivious,” Karl continued, making Sapnap laugh harder. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner, but I mean look at them!” He said. They laughed together, Sapnap’s hand back in Karls, and drove peacefully on the highway. 

“Up you two, I know you’re in love or whatever but we’re here!” Sapnap yelled, poking Dream’s knee to wake him up. They both woke up startled, quickly remembering how they were sitting, and rushed out of the car. While on the drive, Karl and Sapnap had come up with a few plans to make sure George and Dream got some alone time. Even though they hung out plenty of times alone, they hoped it would be different now that the two had seen them together. It would be relatively easy, Sapnap would just say he wanted some time with Karl, and bam, they were left alone together. 

“Me and Karl are gonna go get the tokens, you guys go find some of the good games we talked about,” Sapnap said as they walked inside. The two nodded and wandered off together.    
“Okay, hopefully we sparked something in them, otherwise this won’t have any effect at all,” he said. Karl nodded, but he was only half listening to what Sapnap was saying. He hadn’t technically been inside an arcade before, only seeing them in movies, so it was cool to see all the flashing lights in real life. Sapnap grabbed his hand and lightly pulled him to the coin exchange to buy some tokens. Karl looked around, making sure they were alone, and kissed Sapnap’s cheek softly. His eyes widened and he stared at Karl, a confused look on his face. Karl giggled at the sight, he clearly wasn’t expecting him to do that, so it was funny to see him so flustered. Sapnap dragged out his stare, before turning back and grabbing 4 cups of tokens. He handed one to Karl and held the rest in 1 hand, taking Karl’s hand in his other open one. 

“Sap, c’mere!” Karl heard from behind them. They turned around and saw their friends standing next to a game, both very excited. 

“The jackpot is at 5,000 tickets, we can get it for sure!” He said. The game was skeeball, and in order to get the prize you had to get a perfect score, all 10s. Karl had never seen it before, so he stepped back a little to let his other friends play. 

After nearly 45 minutes of failed attempts amongst the 3 of them, George turned to Karl and handed him the ball. “Try it!” He said cheerfully. Karl grabbed the ball out of his hand and stood at the game. He had watched them play, so he knew exactly what he needed to do, but he wasn’t sure how easily he could accomplish it. He rolled the first ball, and it landed gracefully in the ‘10’ hole in the corner. 1 down, 4 to go. He tried to replicate what he did, successfully making it in for balls 2, 3, and 4. He had one more, and all his friends were staring at him with mixtures of shock and excitement on their faces. For his first time playing, he was doing exceptionally well. He rolled the 5th ball, closing his eyes halfway through, afraid to look. It sailed perfectly into the 10, just like the other ones did, and the machine started ringing loudly. He covered his ears instinctively at the noise, but Sapnap grabbed his hands off his ears. 

“You did so good what the hell!” Dream cheered, reaching out for a high five. The game was spitting out the tickets and George was squatting down next to them, scooping them into his arms. Karl gave him a lousy high five back, but Dream took it like it was the best thing ever.    
“We’re rich!” George said jokingly, holding a pile of tangled tickets in his arms. Sapnap smiled and ran his hand through Karl’s hair, noticing he was stressed by the volume of the place. 

“You wanna go to the bathroom? It’s probably quieter there,” Sapnap asked him. Karl nodded and the two walked off, leaving Dream and George to happily collect the tickets themselves. They got inside the bathroom and Karl let out a shaky breath, trying to stay calm. The loud noises and the thought of his parents made a nasty concoction of unpleasant thoughts in his head. 

“Karl, you’re safe here with me, okay?” Sapnap hummed, now hugging him tightly. Karl nodded, unable to speak, afraid if he did he might break down. Sapnap broke their hug slightly and placed a kiss on Karl’s forehead to calm him further, which worked surprisingly well. He could feel him relax in his arms, his less tense arms changing the pressure he was feeling from their hug. 

“You wanna go back out there? Or home?” He asked softly. Without hesitation, Karl answered, “it’s fine, we can go back.” Sapnap nodded and grabbed his hand tightly, coaxing him back out to the main arcade where Dream and George were.    
“Hey guys! Everything alright?” George asked. They nodded, clearly trying to drop the subject, and George noticed and brushed it off.    
“We have a shit ton of tickets now, what do you want to do with them?” He asked. Everyone looked at Karl, and it was clear they wanted him to decide and spend them. George took the now neatly stacked pile of tickets and placed them into Karl’s free hand. 

“You won it, you get to choose,” he said. The four walked over to the prize section, seeing various overpriced toys on the counter and walls. They looked around at all the items, taking them all in, before something caught Karl’s eye. It was a creeper stuffed animal, identical to the one on Sapnap’s shelf he had noticed before. Sapnap followed Karl’s eyesight and locked eyes with it too, before grinning widely. 

“We’ll match!” He said cheerfully. Karl nodded and turned to the cashier, who took 2,000 of their tickets in exchange for the creeper. He hung on to it tightly, and decided to give the remaining tickets to Dream and George, who happily took them without hesitation. They talked amongst themselves and fought briefly over what to get, before pointing at a few random things off the wall. A small plastic trumpet, which Karl could tell would get annoying very quickly, a large bag of gummy worms, a few ring pops, and a small quartz elephant, were all piled up precariously in Dream’s arms. 

“You guys wanna go? We’ll get back and have time to do homework before dinner,” Sapnap asked. The other 3 nodded and they all made their way out to the car. They all got into the seats they were in before, Karl immediately grabbing Sapnap’s hand. 

“Alrighty let’s hit the road,” Sapnap hummed. Karl grabbed the volume buttons on the radio and turned it up, deciding it would be the perfect time for some karaoke. The rest of the car must have agreed, because soon enough the four of them were belting out random songs that came on, singing their hearts out together. It was adorable to watch, the group happily singing with each other, not a care in the world. A feeling Karl wished would last forever, and hoped with Sapnap by his side it would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wc - 3548   
> dnf fans come get yalls juice  
> bit of a shorter one but i wanted to get it in before I went to bed.   
> I would just like to apologize now for the upcoming chapter or two, because if we didn't hate karls parents enough we sure as hell will soon.. anyways make sure you get some good sleep, drink some water you know wassup


	7. love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> // abuse, ambulances/hospital mentions, descriptions of various injuries

“Karl, wake up we gotta go to school,” Sapnap hummed. Karl groaned and rolled over, shoving his face back into Sapnap’s pillow. “I thought you said we could skip today,” Karl mumbled, his words muffled in fabric. Sapnap laughed, “We have like, 3 tests today, we should go,” Karl mumbled something again before getting himself out of bed and flopping into Sapnap, forcefully hugging him. 

“You wanna wear my clothes today or yours? I made sure they got washed so they are clean if you want them,” Sapnap whispered. “Yours, they smell like you,” Karl replied softly, making Sapnap nod and grab a few things from his closet. 

“Here, you’ll like these,” he said, placing them in his hands and walking out of the room. He headed downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed some pop tarts for the two of them. His dad walked in and the two made eye contact. 

“Hey kiddo, I wanted to apologize for not saying anything when you came out, I was just a little surprised. Just know I support you, both of you,” he said. Sapnap smiled and nodded, he was happy he had such wonderful parents to support him. Karl walked downstairs and they stared at each other, before both laughing hysterically. 

“They’re so big on you!” Sapnap yelled, looking at his clothes on the other. Karl giggled and nodded, pressing his face into the neck of his sweatshirt. He grabbed a pop tart out of his hand and walked to the front door. Sapnap was happy Karl was feeling good, judging by his reaction to getting up he was worried about his mood. They waved to Sapnaps parents and walked out the door, hopping into his car. Karl had his phone with him, but he still hadn't powered it on since Saturday. He was more scared than anything to see what his parents had texted him, so he decided ignoring it was his best option. He held it in his hands and stared at it, a lump forming in his throat. 

“Don’t worry about them, you’re safe with me okay?” Sapnap said lightly. Karl nodded and tucked it into his pocket. Sapnap could still tell he was worried though, so he grabbed his hand and drew small hearts into his thumb as they drove, which seemed to help his mood.

When they got to school, Dream and George were outside waiting for them. They weren't late, per se, but they weren't early like they usually tried to be.

“Finally, took you two long enough,” George said as the four walked inside. It was routine for them to stay in the foyer in the morning, so they sat down on a bench and talked for a while. The bell rang, letting them know that they needed to head to their first classes, and the group split. Karl was grateful his first class was with Sapnap, and the two walked together. Neither of them liked physics, but being together made it bearable enough to sit through. 

“Karl, you need to go down to the office,” The teacher said to him. They were only 20 minutes into the period, so neither of them knew why he needed to leave. Karl nodded and glanced at Sapnap, who had a worried expression on his face. Karl walked out of the classroom, alone, down to the front office. When he got inside, his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. His parents stood there with large smiles on their faces, waiting for him to arrive. 

“Hi Karl, your parents are here to take you to a doctors appointment. Have a nice day!” One of the ladies said. He stood there, frozen in place, as his mother grabbed his arm tightly. His parents waved and pulled him outside, and before he could even register what was happening, he was sitting in their car. Alone.

“Karl, I’ve been worried sick about you, I can't believe you'd do this to us!” his mother said, fake worry dripping off her tongue. His dad started the car and stared at him through the mirror, anger clearly pulsing through his veins. Karl didn't know what to do, but he couldn't cry. He sat quietly, afraid to say a word, as they drove home. He wanted nothing more than to text Sapnap, to ask him to come find him, but he didn't even have his number, or any of the dream team’s numbers. He was utterly alone with the two people who hated him most, who looked like they wanted him dead. 

Sapnap didn't pay attention to the rest of physics, especially when Karl didn't come back right away. When the bell rang he practically ran out of the classroom and down the hall to the office. As he was heading there, he shot a quick text to Dream and George to meet him so they could go together. He walked into the office and the lady at the front desk smiled at him politely. 

“Hi, can I help you with something?” She asked as Dream and George walked into the office behind Sapnap. 

“My friend, Karl Jacobs, he was sent here earlier, where is he?” Sapnap said, trying to stay as calm as possible. She smiled and tapped her keyboard a few times before answering. 

“His parents came to pick him up, why do you ask?” She replied. Sapnap's heart dropped and his face turned white, realizing Karl had been alone with his parents for nearly 45 minutes now. Dream put his hand on his shoulder to temporarily calm him down, and took over speaking for him.

“I know you're probably not allowed to, but we need his address, and I know you can see that. Please,” Dream said sharply. She opened her mouth and closed it, clearly unsure of what to do. She glanced around the office and back at her computer, before typing a few things in.

“You're right, I'm not supposed to, but judging by your reactions to where he went I can tell this is a serious situation. His address is *random address swag*” She said, before quickly writing it on a paper and handing it to him. Dream shot her an overly thankful look and the 3 of them rushed outside to Sapnap’s car, not caring about class. They piled in, and within seconds they were driving to his house. Sapnap was sweating, gripping the steering wheel with all his strength. He was speeding, anyone could recognize that, but he couldn't care less at that point, he just needed to get to Karl.

“Sap, I understand you're worried but please slow down, you're going 25 over the limit,” George said quietly from the back seat. He eased off the gas slightly, now only going 10 over, and continued to drive. The three of them quickly realized they had no idea what they were doing, and tried to come up with a plan. George would stay in the car and subtly call the police, Dream would go to the door and try to distract Karl's parents as best he could, and Sapnap would go around and try to find a window to Karl's room to get him out of the house. They had no idea if this would work, especially because they didn't even know what Karl's parents or house was like. 

“It's that one,” Dream said, pointing at a small house up the road. “George, stay here and make sure you explain everything you can to the police, okay?” He said, looking back at his friend. George nodded and pulled out his phone, ready for Sapnap to park. He pulled over to the side of the road and got out, Dream following close behind. Dream ran in front of him and up to the door, before ringing the doorbell once. Sapnap walked around to the back of the house and waited to hear Dream start talking to Karl's parents. He was desperate for their plan to work, he couldn't bear leaving Karl inside his house for any longer than he needed to. 

**// descriptions of abuse in this paragraph**

Karl heard the doorbell ring from his bedroom. He was sent there the second they got out of the car to wait for his father to discipline him. He had prepared himself for the worst, and he was glad he did. In a normal case, his father would hit him, kick him, or punch him, he rarely used anything other than his hands and feet. On this day however, his father had gone out to the shed to get a baseball bat, furious about his son leaving for long. It was 30 minutes. 30 long minutes of Karl's father doing his worst, while keeping Karl conscious to feel it all. When he left, Karl was barely awake, and severely beaten. He was now laying in bed, trying to keep his eyes open, when he heard the doorbell. He was at first scared, he didn't know of what, but then he was confused. He couldn't possibly understand who would be coming to their house at this hour of the morning. He glanced at himself in the mirror and winced. His once pretty face was now red and purple, his left eye a dark blue, and lips swollen. His arm ached, he assumed it was broken, but it wasn't the first time his dad had left him with a broken bone. He wanted to cry, but his chest hurt every time he took a breath, so he held it in. 

“Who are you?” he heard his mother say from downstairs, followed by more muffled conversation. He just looked up at the ceiling, unsure if he should try to sleep, knowing he probably had a severe concussion. It was sad, he wanted to sleep more than anything, to just sleep forever and let his head take over, but he knew he had to keep himself going. He thought of the things he loved, the people he loved, he thought of Sapnap. He thought of hugging him after he got out of his house, kissing him on the forehead. He thought of driving to the end of the earth with him, leaving behind his life just to be in his presence. 

“Get off of my property immediately, or I will call the police,” he heard his father say. This peaked his interest, an unwelcome visitor so early in the morning was a new phenomenon to him. He tried to listen closer, but a tap on his window distracted him. With all his effort, he moved to look out the window and see what the noise is. Sapnap stared back at him, a mixture of panic and relief on his face. He gestured to the lock of the window, telling him to open it, and Karl fiddled with the switch before quickly getting it open. For the first time he was very grateful his room was on the first floor. Sapnap looked at his face, heart breaking at the sight of a bloodied Karl, and wrapped his arms around his waist, desperately trying to lift him out of his room. Karl winced, the pain of being pulled out of the window wasn't unbearable, and certainly wasn't the worst he had felt, but it still hurt.

“How are you here?” he asked, voice raspy and quiet. Sapnap just shushed him and carefully cradled him in his arms, one arm under his head and the other under the crook of his legs. He shut the window and continued to carry him back to the car. Karl registered the sound of police sirens in the distance, but that was the last thing he heard before passing out in Sapnap’s arms. 

Sapnap opened the back door and set Karl down, before looking back at the house. His parents had shut the door on Dream’s face, whatever he had said they clearly didn't like.

“Please come quickly, he looks really bad, and he's not conscious,” George said into the phone. The operator in the other end assured him that the police and an ambulance were just a minute away. Sapnap brushed Karl's hair out of his face, now sitting next to him in the back seat. He looked strangely peaceful, considering his swollen lips and eyes. The sound of sirens were now very near, along with the screech of tires and car doors opening. 

Sapnap hopped out and located an ambulance not too far from him, and waved the paramedics over. It was like slow motion as he looked around, people running everywhere, various uniforms blurring his vision. Officers were running up to the house where Dream stood, his face shifting between red and blue from the flashing lights in the corner of Sapnap’s eyes.

“Let me come with him,” Sapnap said, snapping back to reality and watching the paramedics load Karl into the back of the ambulance. “Please, I'm the closest thing he has to family right now, let me come with,” he repeated, tears rolling down his cheeks. They nodded and waited to close the doors for him to get in. Sapnap had never felt more scared in his life, hearing them run around Karl and put wires and tubes into his arms and face. Karl was still unconscious, which only worried him more. He didn't know much about anything in the medical field, but he imagined it wasn't a good thing. 

“Is he gonna be alright?” he whispered to no one in particular, not expecting an answer. He cried more, reaching out his hand to hold Karl’s. He was grateful he couldn’t see what was going on back at the house, but he still hoped Dream and George were okay, and as if they had read his mind, his phone started to ring.

“How is he, please tell me he’s okay,” Dream said, his voice slightly washed out by the background noise. He glanced at Karl, “I honestly don’t know, he’s unconscious, but I think he’s okay,” He replied softly. Dream sighed, making the call crackle a bit. 

“We’ll meet you guys at the hospital, I think the officers may want to ask all of us some questions though,” he said. Sapnap was about to respond when he felt his hand being squeezed by Karl, whose eyes were now open slightly. “I’ll call you back, bye,” he said quickly, hanging up the phone. Karl opened his eyes more, before wincing a bit and closing them again. 

“Karl, it’s okay I’m right here,” Sapnap hummed, trying to calm him. He couldn’t imagine what he was feeling like, and didn’t even want to know what his parents had done to him to get him to this state. Karl shifted his hand that was sitting in Sapnap’s, and wrote a small message into his thumb like he always received. Sapnap focused on the symbols Karl was writing, trying to spell out what he was saying. It was a simple phrase, but one with so much meaning. Karl had written ‘I love you,’ and Sapnap smiled, understanding within seconds. 

“I love you too, Karl, you’ll be okay,” he whispered, reassuring himself in the process. Karl smiled and closed his eyes, and the two rode silently in the bustling ambulance, waiting to get to the hospital. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wc - 2534  
> short chapter ik, next one will probably be out soon tho. I wrote this in the car on a mini road trip, and ive learned it is not the easiest to transfer notes to google docs, so i wont be doing that again o-o.... angsty chapter today but hey it was bound to happen at some point right?
> 
> drink some water >:( and take a nap!


	8. honey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> // hospitals
> 
> come get yalls dnf crumbs

Sapnap had fallen asleep holding Karl’s hand, sitting next to his hospital bed. It had been nearly 8 hours of Sapnap desperately waiting for answers about Karl’s condition, gripping onto the brief seconds he skipped into consciousness. Dream watched as Sapnap shifted slightly, hand still firmly set in place as it had been for the past 4 hours. It was cute, he could tell Sapnap was in love, considering he had never seen his friend act in such a way before. While he would love to sit and watch the two sleep peacefully together, he surprisingly had other things to focus on. 

That being George, slumped over on his shoulder, snoozing quietly. At this point he was the only one fully awake, and he wasn’t sure if he should try to nap as well, but decided against it. He assumed if Karl woke up for longer than just a few seconds that Sapnap would feel it, but just to be sure, he wanted someone to be up. 

He looked down at his friend, and stared at his face. He was beautiful, his pale skin mixing in a perfect harmony with his dark hair. His eyes were closed, but they were still pretty, he had long eyelashes that carefully rested on the edges of his rosy cheeks. He wasn’t the most comfortable in the position he was sitting in, but he didn’t want to wake George. Carefully, he took his arm that was awkwardly placed under his leg and moved it slowly around George’s waist. He pulled him closer into his body, feeling his weight shift into him fully. He smiled, happy with how he had ended up, but was quickly interrupted by the sound of someone walking outside their room. 

“Hi,” Dream whispered to the doctor that had just walked in. She looked around at the sleeping mess of people and smiled. She took a chair and set it down across the room, which wasn’t big, and got out a clipboard. 

“Are you able to answer a few questions for me? I’ll try to be as fast as possible,” she said. He nodded, unsure if he could fully help, but decided he was going to try. 

“I’m honestly here to just get a few more details about Karl’s situation, do you know everything that has happened? And some general details about him? You three are the only people we have to ask right now, but it’s okay if you can’t,” She said. He nodded again and thought back to the conversation he had with Karl, when he explained what his parents were doing. She gestured for him to start, so he did. 

“From what I can remember, his parents have hit him for a while now. He moved from North Carolina a little while ago, I’m not sure why. I remember he told Sapnap more stuff,” he said, pointing to his sleeping friend, “but he told me some new stuff as well. Apparently they are really homophobic, and they beat him really badly a few months ago when they found out one of his friends was bisexual. I haven’t really heard him say much about any other friends from there, so I’m assuming he was one of the only ones. He came over to Sapnap’s house with all of us for a sleepover, and me and George left after that, so I’m not sure what they talked about, but that’s when Sapnap found out about his parents and what they did,” he continued. 

“Yeah, he’s right,” Sapnap said, now awake and looking at them. He glanced at Dream for permission to continue in his place, and received a small nod before speaking. 

“I figured it out when I was driving him back to his house, just a combination of a few things and I just connected the dots. I couldn’t bear to take him back after knowing what they had done, so I turned around and drove him back to my house. He stayed with me for a few days until we went to school on Monday, where he was called down to the office and taken by his parents. I got worried when he didn’t come back, so I asked the lady at the office for his address so we could go find him, I had my suspicions,” he said, a lump forming in his throat. She looked at him and nodded. “That’s enough for now, you can continue your nap, hon,” she said warmly, getting up from her chair and quietly leaving. Sapnap had dark circles under his red-rimmed eyes, from a mixture of exhaustion and crying. 

“Sap, go back to sleep, you look horrible. I’ll be awake and if anything changes I’ll wake you, don’t worry,” Dream said lightly. He nodded and set his head back down next to Karl’s, placing a kiss on his cheek before closing his eyes. Dream sighed and looked at his friends all peacefully sleeping. He was determined to keep his promise and stay awake, but it was getting difficult considering how comfortable and safe he felt. He realized it was relief, like a dam filled with worry had finally broken, calming him immensely. He took his free hand and placed it on George’s head, running his fingers through his soft hair. George’s eyelids fluttered, and he opened his eyes slightly. If it was any other time Dream would have made an effort to get George off of him, to not embarrass them, but at that moment he didn’t care. 

George registered his sleeping position quickly, taking note of where Dream’s hands were placed, and nuzzled his face farther into Dream’s chest. Dream sucked in a sharp breath, and tried desperately to keep his heart rate steady.

“You smell good,” George mumbled into his sweatshirt. His heart rate was no longer steady. “Oh yeah?” he responded hoarsely, his voice barely a whisper. George nodded and took one of his arms out from under his chest and swung it around Dream’s waist. 

“Yeah, you smell like home,” he said quietly. Dream was gone. Like a ball of yarn that had just been undone, or a blanket that was unwoven, he could feel himself begin to fall deeper in love. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, he was in love with his best friend. Dream decided to make a move, to be bold, because he couldn’t take not doing anything anymore. George was halfway on top of him, already drifting back to sleep, so Dream carefully tightened his grip around his waist and moved him up to his lap. George wasn’t fully asleep however, and Dream knew this, but at this point he didn’t care, he just wanted to be closer to him.

“What are you doing?” George whispered, still not opening his eyes. Dream just shushed him softly and wrapped his arms around him, bringing him into a deep hug. George out his head in the crook of his shoulder and nuzzled himself into it, getting comfy again. He was much smaller than Dream, at least a good 5 inches shorter too, but all around had a tiny build in general. He fit himself perfectly into Dream’s lap, his legs now wrapped around his waist, just as the blond’s arms were around his torso. 

“You are very comfy, Dream, like a pillow,” he mumbled into Dream’s neck. He sucked in a breath and let out a small laugh, more to try to cover the lump of nervousness that had caught in his throat. 

“You can use me as a pillow anytime you’d like, Georgie,” he said softly in his ear. What he didn’t expect was for George to nod quietly, face and ears turning bright red. Dream had always been bold with everything he did, except for with George, so he decided to change that. 

“Why’re you all red?” He challenged, still whispering in his ear. George pushed himself farther into Dream’s shoulder, trying to hide his face, but he could still feel the heat coming off of him. “You’re warm too,” he continued, now rubbing George’s back with his hand, his other in his hair swirling his fingers through his locks. “I’ll be taking you up on your pillow offer, I think,” George said confidently. Dream wasn’t expecting the return, so he continued the banter further.

“I’m glad, you’re not too bad of a blanket yourself you know. Especially because I’ve made you so warm, haven’t I?” He rasped. Not to say he was purposefully making his voice sound like… that… but it got a reaction out of the other so he wasn’t complaining when he did it. George had his arms hung loosely around Dream’s neck, but he moved them slightly to push himself off of him, now staring into his eyes. Dream realized he could talk all he wanted about George being red, but he could feel his face burning with crimson as George stared at him. 

“You have green eyes, right?” George asked. Dream swallowed and nodded, confused as to where he was going with this. 

“I can’t see green but I can still tell, they look a lovely yellow color, like honey,” he continued. “like little pools of gold, I can tell they’re beautiful. One day I’ll get some glasses to see them properly, but they are lovely as I see them now,” he breathed. Their faces were mere inches apart, he could feel George’s warm breath on his face, seconds between his breaths. 

“They couldn't compare to yours, Georgie. They are little mirrors, like I’m staring up at the sky. I wouldn’t be surprised if I could see the stars in there if I looked hard enough,” Dream replied. The tension was so thick you could see it, begging to be broken by something, someone. And then it was, but not in the way either of them thought it would be. 

“Guys?” It was Karl. He was awake, now sitting up slightly, looking at his 3 friends. George and Dream turned around, getting up at lightning speed to go to him. Dream nudged Sapnap’s shoulder to wake him, and when he did it was like he had been up for hours. Eyes wide, he looked at Karl, not fully believing he was awake. They had been there for nearly 9 hours, but this was the first time Karl had spoken.

“Karl, oh my god, are you okay? How are you feeling? George, Dream, someone please get one of the doctors. I can’t believe you’re awake I-” Sapnap rambled on. He was cut off by Karl, not his voice, but his lips, on his. It was short but sweet, meant to calm him down, and it did. 

“I’m okay, a little sore understandably, but feeling fine,” Karl said in barely a whisper. Sapnap grabbed the cup of water he had been drinking throughout the day and held it up to Karl’s mouth, who gladly drank what was left. They heard movement outside, before the door opened and 2 doctors rushed in, quickly taking the cup out of his hand to check on him. 

“I’m sorry but I’m going to need you 3 to step back for a moment,” one of them said. They obliged, walking back to the couch Dream and George were sitting on just minutes before. Karl looked scared, he clearly didn’t like how many people were surrounding him, let alone the sounds and lights of a normal hospital room.    
“Yes, take him in, we can do the surgery right away,” one said, the other nodding in response. 

“Surgery?” Sapnap asked, getting no response. They lifted the hospital bed and revealed it could roll, and before anyone could even blink Karl was being taken out of the room, leaving the 3 of them alone. 

“I had no idea he was getting surgery, I didn’t know it was that bad,” Sapnap whispered, face pale. Dream took his free hand and rested it on his shoulder to calm him. His other hand, he quickly realized, was linked with George’s, their fingers intertwined perfectly together. He said nothing, just looked down at their hands and then up to George, who was staring at him. A doctor came back into the room and looked at the 3 of them, who were all visibly worried and confused.    
“Hello, sorry to bring him in like that on such short notice, we needed to do surgery as soon as he was awake,” she said kindly. They sat there, still staring at her with confusion, so she continued. “His arm is fractured in 2 places, due to blunt force, and we need to stabilize it before it gets any worse. It should only take a couple hours, maybe you should go home for a while? You haven’t left yet,” she said, now worried as well. The three all shook their heads.    
“We aren’t leaving. Just tell us where we should go, but we are staying here,” Sapnap said, looking at the others who nodded in agreement. She smiled and waved her hand to them, telling them to follow her. They got up and walked behind her down the busy hallways, through a maze of various offshoots and doors. They arrived at another room, one even smaller than the last, and sat down. 

“This is where he will be sent after he is out, so you should wait here. I’ll come in and give you updates if there are any,” she stated, before briskly leaving the room. There were only 2 cushioned chairs, and Sapnap had already claimed one for himself, scrolling on his phone. Dream sat down in the other and opened his arms, gesturing for George to sit on his lap.

“Sit, unless you want to chill on the floor,” he said simply. George had only hesitated for a moment before sitting on his lap, resting his back comfortably on Dream’s chest. Dream wrapped his arms around George’s torso with his phone in his hand, and started to scroll through twitter for the both of them. Sapnap glanced over but said nothing, registering his friends bright red faces and grinning. 

When the doctor had said a couple hours, none of them thought she meant 5. Dream and Sapnap were wide awake now, from napping earlier and patiently waiting for Karl to be done. George had fallen asleep again, now between Dream’s legs sitting on the chair. Dream had scooted himself back as far as possible to allow him to slip down, his legs were beginning to hurt after such a long time with George’s weight on them. 

“So, are you going to explain all this?” Sapnap said, staring at the two of them. Someone could say they had been dating for 3 years and it would be believable, especially with the look Dream had in his eyes when he looked at him. 

“I don’t know, I guess I’m trying to figure it out,” he said quietly. His mouth was next to George’s ear, his head resting just below his shoulder. Sapnap shrugged and looked back at his phone. 

“Well if I could do it you can,” was all he said, making Dream laugh. He moved a little too much though, because George started to stir. He opened his eyes and looked up, his face now just a couple inches from Dream’s, and quickly looked back down. When he did, he saw his hands tangled with Dream’s. It was not friendly.

There were footsteps outside the door, this time right next to it, along with a few other quiet noises. The door opened and there was Karl, sitting in a wheelchair being pushed by a doctor. His arm was sitting in a cast, that was rested in a sling, but he also had a bandage tightly wrapped around his ankle. 

“Karl!” Sapnap yelled, getting out of his chair and rushing to the door. Karl smiled and leaned into Sapnap’s hug, careful to not bump his arm. 

“Hi,” he said, smiling wide. Sapnap was crying, he didn’t even realize it until his cheeks felt wet against Karl’s face. Karl kissed him lightly on the forehead and pointed to the chair, telling him to sit down again. 

“Hey boys, sorry that took so long, we had to check up on his ankle as well. It was good that we did, it was badly fractured as well.” The doctor said, smiling at the four of them. 

“Anyways, Karl, you’ll be sleeping here for the night, we will check up on you later in the morning before we can make the decision to release you or keep you longer. There will be a woman coming soon from social services to talk to you, so be ready for that,” she said cheerfully, before wheeling Karl into the room and waving. “I’ll be off now, have a good night everyone.” And with that, the 4 were alone again. 

“How are you,” Sapnap asked sweetly. He had gotten up and was already trying to help Karl onto his bed. Karl just gave a hum in response, he was clearly still tired from whatever anesthesia he had been put on. Once he had gotten Karl positioned comfortably on the bed, he was about to sit back down in his chair but Karl pulled his sweatshirt. 

“Stay here,” he said, scooting himself over to create room on the bed. His broken wrist and ankle were both on the left, so he didn’t worry too much about getting on the right side of him. He sat on the bed and Karl pulled his arms down, making them wrap him in a hug. 

“If you wanted a hug you could have just asked,” he said with a breathy laugh. They were now laying in the hospital bed, cuddling each other and holding one another close, scared to let go. Dream looked down at George, who was staring at them like he just was. 

“Jealous of them, are you?” He prodded, hoping to get George flustered. George just nodded though, and then looked up at Dream.    
“Yeah, actually, I am,” he said softly, his tone shifting from sweet to challenging in seconds. It was not Dream’s plan to be the one flustered, yet there he was, George inches away from his bright red face. George had managed to flip himself around on his lap without him even noticing, so the two could face each other. Dream put his hand on the back of George’s head and brought him into his chest, pressing his face against his now warm sweatshirt. George fought it though, springing back up the first second he could, retaining his eye contact with Dream. To the sound of soft snores from their friends and beeping from the medical equipment around them, George planted a loving kiss on Dream’s lips, locking the two together. Dream’s eyes widened with shock, before he closed them and leaned farther in, deepening their kiss. He had wanted this for months, maybe not in the middle of a hospital room with his injured friend beside them, but he took what he could get. 

“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Sapnap chimed. The two ripped apart and stared at him, breathing heavily with crimson faces.    
“You’re awake?” George whispered sharply. Sapnap laughed and flipped them off before cozying himself up against Karl again, who was already knocked out sleeping. George and Dream looked at each other, before bursting out laughing. Who would have thought the friend group would be in such a place, a sweet yet bitter situation bringing them closer. George tucked his head into Dream’s neck and took a deep breath, mumbling under his breath. 

“What was that?” Dream said, cocking his head ever so slightly. “I said I’m going to sleep,” George murmured. Dream chuckled and got himself comfortable, using George as a makeshift blanket to warm himself from the cold hospital room’s air. And with that, the 4 fell asleep together, peacefully drifting off into the night with the ones they cared for most. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i caved and wrote dnf. youre welcome.   
> wc - 3332  
> I think there will only be maybe one or two more chapters, then we are off to part 2, the college sequel >:D  
> I'll be sure to publish the last chapter of this and the first chapter of that at the same time so you can go right into it and bookmark it. It'll be the same storyline same characters etc. but the group is off to college and shit. thoughts on adding quackity to the story? I was unsure of doing it and decided against it for this one, but idk about the next one so we shall see i suppose o-o  
> anyways go drink some water don't be foolish :] <3


	9. sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!! TW !!!!  
> // mentions of abuse (a lot of it) and mentions of implied rape  
> This is probably the worst one description-wise, so please be cautious!! <3

Sapnap forgot to turn his phone to silent, and that was made very apparent when it woke all 4 of them up at 7am. He fumbled his cell in his hands and clicked the accept call button, barely catching the name of who was calling. 

“Hi mom,” he mumbled, his morning voice low and dry. 

“Hi, I need you four to come home soon, if you’re able. We have a scheduled meeting with an officer and social worker in an hour, you all have to be there,” she said kindly. Sapnap sighed and looked around at his friends, who were slowly adjusting to the bright lights of the morning sun. 

“Yeah, I think Karl is getting released soon anyways, we’ll be there no later than 8:15,” he said, rubbing his eyes. His mother thanked him and hung up, leaving the 4 in a tired quiet mess. 

“Alrighty, we gotta be home by 8, one of you go grab a doctor to see if he can be released,” he said. George yawned and nodded, getting up from Dream’s lap sheepishly. 

“Where are they,” Karl whispered, making Sapnap focus back on him. Even though he knew what he meant, he still asked to confirm. “Who, your parents?” he asked softly. Karl nodded, eyes starting to fill with tears. 

“When we were getting in the ambulance I saw the police taking care of them, they’re probably in custody right now,” he said sweetly. Sapnap was sitting up now, but Karl hadn’t moved his body yet. “Can you try sitting up for me?” Sapnap offered. Karl nodded, shifting his weight on his good hand and propping himself up against his shoulder. “Good job, you still hurting?” Sapnap asked. He nodded again and lazily gestured to his other arm, which he had cradled close to his chest. Sapnap hummed in response and pet his head, before making sure he was balancing enough for him to get up. Karl clearly didn’t want him to leave, worry plastered on his face when he moved. 

“Karl, don’t worry, I’m not leaving, I’m staying with you,” he said softly. By now, tears were sliding down his cheeks slowly, but he wasn’t crying, he wasn’t even making any noise. It broke Sapnap’s heart seeing him cry, but he knew Karl would be safe by his side, he wasn’t letting him leave his sight again. 

“Hello Karl, how are you feeling?” A female voice rang out. The doctor from yesterday was standing at the doorway looking at him. He put on an unenthusiastic smile and pretended to be happy, even though no one in the room believed him. 

“I just need to check a few things before giving you your release forms, if that’s alright? It’s protocol for me to ask him questions without anyone in the room,” she said, turning to the other 3. Dream and George nodded, walking out the door, but Sapnap stood frozen in place. 

“I’m sorry but I’m not leaving him,” he said simply, sitting down in an open seat. She sighed and opened her mouth to protest, but Karl interrupted her. 

“He’s staying, I won’t answer your questions unless he’s here,” he said. She sighed again and looked at the folder in her hands, before giving up and sitting down on the rolling stool. 

“Alright, some of these I already know the answers to, but I have to ask them anyways,” she said, beginning to read off questions to Karl. He nodded and listened carefully, making sure to answer each one as best he could. They were relatively normal questions, asking about how he felt and what he would rate his condition at, along with a few others. She hesitated before moving on to the next section of questions. 

“Do you feel safe at home?” She asked, frowning and looking up at him. Of all things, Karl laughed. He genuinely laughed. “No, I don’t,” he said flatly. Sapnap’s eyes widened at his response, the last thing he expected was for Karl to laugh about the situation. 

“Where will you be going after being released?” She asked. 

“Sapnap’s house. I was staying there before so I’m assuming that will continue for a while,” he said, looking at Sapnap for confirmation. She looked at him as well, and he nodded, letting them both know that was the plan. She continued listing off questions until she had gotten to the last one, which asked him to sign a few forms.   
“I’m left handed,” he said, almost asking it as a question.   
“That’s quite alright, just do the best you can with your right hand,” she said, handing him a clipboard and pen. Karl shakily wrote his name out a few times on the sheet, before smiling and handing it back.   
“Okay then, you should be good to go! I just need to make sure you can stand on your own, you should be able to with all things considered,” she said, taking the clipboard out of his hands. Sapnap got up and stood next to the bed, immediately helping him stand. He held him carefully, mindful of where he knew he had bruises, before letting go for him to stand on his own. He was a little wobbly, but he could manage well enough for the doctor’s approval. His face was now healed, at least a little bit, but his bruises under his eyes had turned a sickly green color. His lips were healed, back to normal almost completely, so he didn’t look too much different. The doctor handed a few things to Sapnap and explained he needed to hand them to the front desk in order to leave, and then walked out of the room. 

“You ready? We are gonna have to talk about what happened, in detail most likely. If you want to tell me first and then I can tell them for y-” Sapnap rambled on, but Karl stopped him with a finger to his lips. 

“I’ll be okay I think, but you worrying like this is stressing me out,” he said calmly. Sapnap nodded, shutting himself up, and swung an arm under Karl to support him. He could walk fine on his own, a small limp being the worst of it, but Sapnap just wanted to be as close to him as possible. Dream and George were already at the front desk down at the entrance waiting for them, and after Sapnap handed the papers to the man at the front desk they were ready to leave. Karl had freed himself temporarily from Sapnap’s arm, his bruises aching from being touched. 

“I’ll drive, Sap, you sit in the back with him,” Dream said, getting into the car. Even though it was Dream’s car, Sapnap had a habit of always driving the group everywhere, no matter the circumstance. He nodded and climbed into the backseat, making sure Karl was comfortably sitting before they drove off. 

By the time they got back to Sapnap’s house there were already cars in the driveway, presumably from officers and social workers. They all got out, Sapnap making sure Karl was okay to walk, and headed through the front door. 3 officers and a woman sat in their dining room, along with both of Sapnap’s parents. His mom rushed to the door to greet them, clearly worried about how bad Karl looked, and told them to sit down. Karl was sweating, he could feel his hands becoming clammy, but Sapnap didn’t care and just squeezed it tighter. 

“Hello boys, I’m Lisa, I’m going to be asking you some questions today,” the woman said, Lisa, as she held out a hand to shake theirs. Karl didn’t let go of Sapnap’s hand, instead just giving her a quick nod.   
“First and foremost, Karl, I need you to start from the very beginning and explain when this started, can you do that for me?” She said, almost in a baby-like voice. It pissed Sapnap off, Karl was 17, he could understand her totally fine without whatever nonsense she was doing. 

“Yes, I can do that,” Karl replied sharply, clearly annoyed with her already as well.   
“I’m just going to sum it up, I feel like I’ve explained this a million times already,” he said with a sigh. “My parents have been hitting me since I can remember, anything I did that wasn’t perfect for them resulted in a new bruise somewhere on my body. I used to live in North Carolina, where I had this friend named Chris, who was bisexual. I didn’t think anything of it when I told my parents that he was, but then my dad got really mad that I was friends with ‘people like that,’ and started hitting me really badly. At that point that was the worst it had gotten, and when I refused to stop being friends with him it only made everything worse. My dad says we moved here because of his job, but I think he wanted to get me away from him to try to end our friendship. It was scary, how he reacted to finding out that one of my friends was bi, I couldn’t even imagine how I was going to tell him I was gay. After we moved here it stopped for a few weeks, they still got mad at me but they didn’t hit me. Then I had to start going to school, and the day before I left I had forgotten to take out the trash and I guess that was the end of it, because he punched me a few times. I went to school and I met them,” he said, pointing to Dream, George, and Sapnap. 

“And they made me really happy, they are wonderful friends to me. I told Dream about what they did to me, it was the first time I had told anyone, and I was really scared. Then after a football game on Friday Sapnap invited me to stay over at his house, and the 4 of us had a sleepover. My dad wanted my home by 11am on Saturday, and by his tone on the phone I knew I would be in danger if I was late. On the way home Sapnap kind of figured out what they were doing to me, I guess he just pieced a few things together,” he glanced at Sapnap who just nodded, coaxing him to continue. 

“He didn’t want to take me back home, especially because we were already going to be late, so he told me to stay with him and his family while he tried to sort things out. It was the best, I felt so safe and happy around everyone, and for the first time I wasn’t worried about my parents. On Monday at school I was called down to the office and my parents were there, and I was scared, terrified isn’t even how I could begin to describe it. They were acting sweet in front of the people at the office but the second we got in the car they turned really mad,” Karl felt a lump in his throat, remembering what happened after he went home. 

“I’m sorry, I need to use the restroom,” he said, quickly getting up and wincing at the pain or moving so fast. Sapnap looked at everyone in the dining room before following behind him. Karl tried his best to run up the stairs but Sapnap had caught up to him. 

“Karl, come here,” he said. They were standing on the stairs, Sapnap’s arms open wide for a hug. Karl practically fell into his arms, letting out soft sobs that were muffled by his shirt. Sapnap slowly managed to sit them down on the stairs, still tightly holding Karl to his chest. He grabbed Karl’s good hand and wrote ‘I love you,’ over and over into his thumb, calming him down in the only way he could. 

“It’s okay to cry, my love,” he said, rocking Karl slightly. He let out another, smaller cry and nodded into his shoulder. “Please keep talking,” Karl managed to choke out. Sapnap nodded and thought up a story for him to talk about.

“You know what will be nice? Once we get you all healed up we can go have a picnic together, just you and me,” he murmured. “We can watch the sun set and we can look at the stars, I’ll tell you about all the constellations I know. I’ll bring monsters for us, I know how much you love those, and they’ll keep us up late into the night. We can go home after and watch a movie, whatever movie you’d like, and eat popcorn and cuddle,” he said. Karl was quiet now, the occasional sniffle was the only noise he made. “And you can fall asleep in my arms, every night okay? Every single night I’ll give you a kiss and tell you how much I love you, how much you mean to me,” he finished. It was cheesy, probably, but he didn’t care, because that’s exactly what he wanted to do. 

“And you know what? We can wear matching suits to homecoming, which you’re going to with me, by the way, and we will be the cutest couple there,” he said lightly. This made Karl perk up, taking his head out from Sapnap’s shoulder, eyes widened. “Couple?” he breathed. Sapnap nodded and smiled, kissing him softly on the tip of his nose. 

“Of course, silly, what else would we go as?” He said. Karl smiled at this, happy with the thought of being with Sapnap. Sapnap took his hand out from behind Karl’s back and placed it ever so lightly on Karl’s cheek, wiping away his tears. 

“You don’t have to go out there and say anything if you don’t want to, you know that right? I’m sure they’ve heard plenty,” he hummed. Karl nodded. “I don’t want your parents to hear what they did. Or anyone, except you of course, I just can’t handle them hearing it from me,” he whispered, voice shaky as ever. Sapnap nodded and kissed him on the forehead.   
“You can ask everyone to leave, if you want to,” he suggested. Karl nodded and pushed farther away from Sapnap, and the two got up from the stairs. When they walked back into the room everyone went quiet and stared at the two of them. 

“He wants you all to leave for a while, if that’s alright?” He said, looking around at his friends, family, and officers milling about in the dining room. A few heads nodded and others hummed in response, filing out of the room. Lisa sat and gestured to the seats across from her, waiting for the two to sit down. 

“Are you ready to continue?” She asked politely. Karl nodded and wiped his face off again, getting the last of the tears off his face. 

“After they took me back home they sent me to my room, and I was so scared. Neither of them were talking to me and I couldn’t hear them saying anything in the other room. That’s when I heard my dad outside, and I kinda understood everything,” he said. He glanced at Sapnap, who was holding his hand tightly. 

**// graphic descriptions of violence, mentions of implied rape**

“He was out at our shed, where we keep the sports equipment. He’s never used anything on me before, but he’s threatened me before with baseball bats and stuff. He walked into my room after a little while with a bat in his hand. He hit me in the ribcage with it once, and I tried to make myself just fall asleep, so I could stop feeling it all. I don’t remember much after that, I think I blacked out for a little while,” he stopped, eyes watering. “I’m sorry,” he said to Sapnap, who gave him a confused look. “And then I remember waking up, I don’t know how long I was out, but I-” he stopped himself again, this time not looking at Sapnap. “You can do it, lovely,” Sapnap whispered to him. “And when I woke up he, he was walking away, zipping up his jeans,” he stated, eyes glossed over with tears. Sapnap let in a sharp breath, realizing what Karl meant. Tears rolled down his eyes, he couldn’t look anywhere but at his lap. Lisa nodded and jotted down a few things on the notepad in front of us. 

“You can be done now, Karl,” she said, before getting up to talk to Sapnap’s parents.   
“I’m sorry,” Karl whispered. He looked numb, broken even, almost like this was the first time he was realizing everything. 

“Karl, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for, come here,” he said, lifting Karl into his lap. Karl didn’t move, he practically went limp as he was shifted to sit on Sapnap, his eyes now far away. Sapnap sat in his dining room with Karl on his lap, silently rocking him back and forth to calm him again. He couldn’t take seeing him in this state, but he knew right now the only thing he could do was just be there for him. Sapnap pulled out his phone and a pair of earbuds from his pocket and plugged it in, carefully pulling up spotify.

“Music?” He asked softly. Karl nodded ever so slightly, looking out into nothing at all. Sapnap took one of the earbuds and put it in Karl’s ear, placing the other in his own. He shuffled a random playlist of calming music, hoping it would distract Karl just a little bit. He was facing the archway entrance of the dining room, where he saw his mother pass by and glance at him, tears now resting shallowly in her eyes as well. She nodded at him, silently telling him she knew what happened, and continued on. 

“I don’t tell you enough how perfect you are,” Sapnap whispered into Karl’s other ear. “Everything about you is just so lovely, I can’t even believe you exist,” he hummed. Karl sniffled and moved his head to rest sideways on Sapnap's shoulder, face turned staring at the wall. 

“You know, the first day we met I figured out I loved you, even from the first time you spoke to me. You reminded me of the sun, so happy and bright. And your laugh, god, I could melt every time I hear you laugh,” he continued. It was true, everything he said. He was just speaking out the thoughts he had for days now. 

“I love you,” Karl whispered. Sapnap smiled at the sound of his voice. “I love you too, darling, more than you could ever know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wc - 3110  
> this is so sad cue the sad music  
> short chapter but I think the next one's probably gonna be really long, kinda just finishing off the high school portion of the story...  
> again, the last chapter of this and first chapter of the college sequel will be posted at the same time, and the story will basically just continue. It will be made as part of a series, so you can find it super easily :D
> 
> make sure you eat a good meal today !! :>


	10. pandas

It had been 3 weeks. 3 weeks since Karl had gotten released from the hospital, 3 weeks of staying at Sapnap’s house. He wasn’t sure where he would end up, his birthday was in just 2 weeks, so then he could stay wherever he wanted without any legal problems. For now though, he had a temporary placement with Sapnap, and he couldn’t be happier. Tomorrow was homecoming, and Sapnap had officially asked Karl to go with him the previous week. He now got to wake up beside Sapnap every day, cradled carefully in his arms. His bruises were healed now, the faint color of purple fading to yellow, then his normal peach complexion. 

“Good morning, lovely,” Sapnap hummed in Karl’s ear. Most mornings consisted of Sapnap waking up first, practically having to pull Karl out of bed every day. Today however, was different, they had made the plan to be open about their relationship at school. It was more scary for Karl than Sapnap, who didn’t really mind people knowing about his sexuality. Karl still had the lingering fear about anyone finding out, for years he hid himself from everyone for his own safety. The shift from closing off everybody he knew to being open about his boyfriend to his entire school was overwhelming, but he was ready. 

“Good morning, Sap,” he said. He was actually awake for once, partially from his nerves, but high energy to say the least. 

“You’re very bright this morning,” Sapnap said. Karl nodded eagerly and hopped out of bed. They had gone back to his house already to grab a few of his belongings, mainly just needing to get his clothes. He wanted to dress nice today, they both did, they knew people would probably stare. For the past 3 weeks they had made a big effort to hide their relationship from everyone at school, and they did a damn good job. 

“We should match a bit, it could be fun,” Karl said, his energy growing even more. He was squirming as he stood, trying his best to cover his anxiety with happiness, but Sapnap could see right through it. 

“Karl, please, I love seeing you so happy but you need to calm down, I can tell you’re nervous,” Sapnap said with a laugh. Karl rolled his eyes but became flushed, he knew him too well. Karl opened his drawer and grabbed a pair of dark jeans, but started to put them back after noticing how many holes they had. They were cool jeans, one of his favorite pairs, but he always avoided him because they showed so much of his legs. He was wearing shorts, and when he looked down at his legs, they were surprisingly bare. He was so used to seeing dark bruises sprinkled on his knees and shins, so when he realized they had faded into almost nothing he started to tear up. He was very emotional, understandably, but quickly wiped his eyes and hoped Sapnap didn’t see. He did, of course, and Karl felt arms wrapped around him after a few seconds. 

“Why are you crying, my love?” Sapnap asked. Karl laughed and shrugged. “My legs, they don’t have bruises anymore,” he said softly. Sapnap smiled and placed a kiss under his ear, before removing his arms from the other. 

“That’s really good, I’m happy for you,” he said, grabbing a few things from his closet and walking to the bathroom. Karl smiled again, taking the jeans back out and looking for a crewneck to match. His eyes landed on his sweater, the purple one he wore on the first day of school. He grinned and snatched off the hanger, quickly undressing to put on his outfit. As he slipped on his jeans, Sapnap opened the door without thinking. They made eye contact and both turned bright red, before Sapnap promptly shutting the door again. Karl giggled and got on the rest of his clothes before walking out. Sapnap stood outside the door, still flushed, tapping his foot against the ground. 

“Sorry for not knocking,” he mumbled. Karl rolled his eyes and shoved him lightly. “I literally don’t care Sap, it’s okay,” he said, grabbing his hand and pulling him into the kitchen. They were on track to be way too early for school, so Sapnap decided to cook them breakfast. 

“Treating me today are we?” Karl hummed, sitting down on the barstool at the counter. Sapnap nodded happily, grabbing eggs out of the fridge. “You like yours scrambled, right?” He asked. 

“Yup,” Karl replied, scrolling through twitter. 

Sapnap cooked them their eggs, being sure to make them exactly how Karl liked them. He knew Karl was nervous for today, he was tapping his fingers on the counter and playing with his rings, two things he did out of habit when he was worried. Sapnap couldn’t care less if people knew about their relationship, in fact he wanted nothing more than to be able to be Karl’s boyfriend in school, but it wasn’t totally up to him. 

“Here you go,” he said, handing Karl a plate. He grabbed Karl’s hand to stop him from fidgeting, spinning his rings for him. “Are you sure you want to be open about it today?” He asked. Karl nodded eagerly, smiling wide. “Yes, I’m sure, it’s just new to me to be out, ya know?” He replied, mouth full of eggs. Sapnap nodded and stole Karl’s fork out of his hand, grabbing himself a bite of eggs. He had been monitoring Karl’s eating for the time they lived together, knowing his parents had messed up his eating habits severely. It was surprising how quickly Karl had adjusted though, but he was happy he did. 

“Can we go?” Karl said, shoveling the last of the eggs into his mouth. Sapnap rolled his eyes and placed his plate into the sink, before pulling Karl outside to the car. They were still holding hands, only breaking their touch briefly to get in the car and linking again the second they sat down. 

“You ready? Today’s gonna be good,” Sapnap hummed, turning up the music.

“Yeah, it’ll be nice to be able to just hold your hand at school,” Karl said softly. Sapnap nodded in agreement and they pulled out of the driveway. 

Karl and Sapnap held hands tightly as they walked to the front of the school, already receiving a few questioning looks. 

“Karl, Sap!” They turned to the source of the voice, Dream, who was standing at the front door. He sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of them holding hands and shot them a worried glance. 

“Guys?” He asked while staring at their linked hands.

“Oh, yeah, it’s fine,” Karl said, realizing Dream was worried about them being outed. He sighed and walked inside to where George sat on a bench, distracted on his phone. 

“Mornin’ George,” Sapnap said, startling him a bit.    
“Oh, good morning guys,” he responded. Dream and George weren’t dating, they were trying to take things slow as George was unsure of his sexuality. Anyone could tell something was going on between them though, they weren’t very good at hiding it. The group sat down and chatted like usual, Sapnap and Karl’s hands still tightly woven together. By the time the bell rang, George had already left to get to his first class early, and Dream followed close behind. The couple walked together to physics, which was just down the hall. They had expected a few people to be mean or say weird things, so when the occasional comment was heard in the hallways they didn’t mind. A few people in their class shot them questioning looks, but no one said anything as they sat down together. 

The day went smoothly, up until lunch when a few people were especially rude to them, but it wasn’t too bad. Nothing Karl hadn’t heard before anyways. 

“Hand holding eh?” Sam said as they sat down at their lunch table. Karl laughed and Sapnap nodded proudly. 

“Yep! Proud to say he is my boyfriend,” Sapnap said cheerfully, making the other blush intensely. They didn’t address each other as boyfriends often, mostly because only a few people knew so they didn’t need to introduce themselves in that way to anyone, but he liked it. Sapnap squeezed Karl’s hand as they ate their stale cafeteria pizza. Callahan stared at them for a while, before Karl and him made eye contact. He smiled, and to everyone’s shock Callahan whispered something under his breath. 

“Congrats,” he said, so quiet it was barely able to be heard over the loud room, yet still everyone had picked it up. They all stared at him now, but instead of acknowledging it he picked up his sandwich and continued to eat, unbothered by everyone’s eyes on him.

“That’s the second time I’ve ever heard him talk,” Sapnap whispered to Karl. “He must really like you to say anything in front of you,” he continued, smiling. Karl giggled and looked back at his food, which was now just a sad piece of cold crust from his pizza. Sapnap squeezed Karl’s hand tightly before getting up, pulling him up as a result. 

“We’re skipping,” he said to everyone at the table. A few of them shook their heads and waved them off, and Sapnap pulled Karl behind him as he walked out of the cafeteria. 

“What do you mean we’re skipping?” Karl said frantically. Sapnap didn’t speak as the two walked straight out of the building, ignoring the teacher who was calling out behind them from the foyer. He didn’t care, he just wanted to treat Karl to a special day, and he wanted to now.

“We’re going shopping,” he said. Karl looked at him wide eyed and gasped slightly. 

“Really? Oh my gosh this is so exciting!” He beamed. Sapnap raised a brow at him and wondered why he was suddenly so excited. 

“When was the last time you went shopping? Like actually shopping, for yourself?” Sapnap asked. Karl shrugged and hopped into the passenger’s seat. 

“I don’t know, maybe like 8 or 9 months ago? Why do you ask?” he said casually. Now it was Sapnap’s turn to gasp, which he did very dramatically.    
“What? That long? Why didn’t you say something sooner!” He yelled. Karl looked at him with the most confused expression he had ever seen. 

“Karl, that’s like, a seriously long time to go without shopping,” he said. Karl rolled his eyes and grabbed Sapnap’s unoccupied hand, his other being on the steering wheel.    
“Whatever, I’m still excited. Why are you taking me out today anyways?” He questioned. Sapnap snickered and grinned, clearly not willing to reveal his reasoning. “You’ll see,” he hummed. 

The two drove, singing their hearts out while listening to a playlist of 2000’s songs, jamming along with the classics from their childhoods. It wasn’t a very far ride to get to the mall Sapnap had chosen, and they pulled into the lot to park. Hand in hand, they walked up to the front of the large building, Sapnap dragging Karl around knowing exactly where he wanted to go. He got lost briefly, having to look at a map in the store, but soon located the shop he was looking for. 

“No way,” Karl breathed, looking into the windows of the store. Sapnap had decided he wanted to go homecoming shopping, specifically suit shopping. 

“Yes way, let’s go get ourselves some pretty little suits,” Sapnap hummed, walking inside. Karl had let homecoming slip his mind, especially forgetting that they would be dressed up for it. He quickly sped up and followed him into the store, taking in the various suits displayed on the walls and on mannequins in the middle of the room.    
“What color are you thinking?” Sapnap asked. Karl glanced around for ideas, his gaze stopping on a deep purple suit on the other side of the shop. Sapnap followed his view, seeing him lock eyes with it, and smiled. 

“Plum huh? I like it!” He said cheerfully, walking over to grab it off the wall. It was beautiful, a rich deep purple that shined slightly in the dim lights around them. Karl reached out and ran a hand over it, eyes widening at the smooth texture of the outside. He grabbed it from him and held it, now looking at Sapnap for him to choose. 

“Maybe you wear a black tie with that, and I match my tie to the purple?” He suggested. Karl grinned at the idea of matching subtly with his boyfriend.    
“Yes, that would be so cool,” Karl said, still smiling. Sapnap walked around for a while, looking at the many black suits displayed in the store. He settled on one he liked the feeling of, now walking over to the rack of ties that were on display. 

“Hi, can I help you two today?” A man asked from the counter. Sapnap’s eyes drifted from the display and looked at him, before nodding eagerly.    
“Are you shopping for homecoming? I bet your girlfriends will think you look great in those!” He said happily, gesturing at the suits in their hands. 

“Yeah, I think he’ll look great in his. I need a tie to match though,” Sapnap said calmly. He obviously didn’t feel like correcting the worker, instead just asking for what he needed. 

“Ah, yes, of course, let me see if we have any in that color,” he said, walking around to the back room behind the counter. Sapnap let out a sigh and grabbed Karl’s hand tightly, who smiled at the gesture. The man came back out holding a few ties, all various shades of purple, and glanced at their linked hands. 

“Oh, apologies for before, here are our tie options,” he said with a warm smile. Karl brought his suit close to them, comparing the colors. One of them immediately stood out to both of them, matching perfectly with the same plum color they were looking for. 

“That one,” they both said in unison, pointing to the tie. The cashier laughed and handed it to them before sending himself off to put back the others. 

“You’re gonna look so hot,” Karl said mindlessly, quickly letting his brain catch up with his words. He slapped his mouth and giggled, turning away from Sapnap and blushing furiously. 

“Maybe, but next to you I couldn’t even compare,” He replied, only making Karl turn into a bigger blushing mess. 

“Are you two ready to check out then?” The man asked, now back at the cash register. Sapnap nodded and gave him his suit, gesturing for Karl to do the same. 

“Alright, your total will be $741.37,” he said smiling. Sapnap nodded and took out his credit card, but Karl stopped him before he could hand it off. 

“Sapnap, what the hell, that's way too expensive,” Karl said, worry drenching his face. Sapnap just shook his head and handed the cashier his card, who took it happily. 

“No, I’m treating you today. And besides, half of this is from my parents, they were happy to help with the cost,” he said. Karl nodded sheepishly and looked down at the ground. He never had anyone do something like this for him, so it was a weird feeling to try and get used to. After he finished paying they grabbed their clothes and headed out of the store.  **[a/n ik you have to get suits fitted and you dont carry them in bags but pls for the sake of this i dont want to write that process <3] **

“Where to next? You can choose,” Sapnap hummed, practically skipping as they walked. 

“I don’t know, maybe something to eat? The school pizza didn’t do much for me,” he replied. Sapnap laughed and glanced over at the food court, looking at the different options.

“Panda express?” Karl suggested. Sapnap just laughed at this. “What?” Karl asked. 

“Nothing, nothing, it’s just Panda express is how I got my nickname, that’s all,” Sapnap said lightly. Karl stared at him, obviously waiting for him to tell the story. “For like, probably 6 months panda express was the only thing I ate, I literally refused to eat anything else, so Dream and George started calling me pandas. I didn’t like it as much as we got older so they started calling me Sapnap, which is just Pandas backwards. Well, technically it’s not, but Sadnap sounds dumb so we changed it,” he explained. Karl looked at him in awe before smiling. 

“Okay Pandas, where do you wanna eat then?” He said. Sapnap sucked in a breath at the name, clearly not expecting him to call him that. 

“Nicknames now, huh?” He challenged. Karl thought for a moment before smiling even wider. 

“Do you have a problem with that, Nick?” He sneered. Sapnap’s face grew bright red at the name. Normally he hated being called Nick, always telling everyone to call him Sapnap, but this case was much different. Coming from Karl made it sound different in his head, a twisted vision on his name. Karl noticed Sapnap’s now very rosy cheeks and laughed, making a note to himself to slip in the name every once and a while. Sapnap straightened himself out and cleared his throat, before pulling Karl fully into the food court they were just standing outside of. 

“Panda express it is, I guess,” Karl said quietly, being pulled against his will to the restaurant. 

They sat down with their food and talked about random topics, homecoming being one of them.    
“I’ve got to play at the homecoming football game, and then the next day is the dance,” Sapnap said, mouth full of food. Karl nodded and took a bite of his own.

“I still don’t get football even in the slightest,” he said. Sapnap laughed, he knew this but was still shocked. 

“Really? You’ve never even seen a game other than mine before?” He asked. Karl thought for a moment but shook his head, unable to come up with an answer for him. 

“Well I’ll teach you the very basics so you can at least tell who’s winning,” Sapnap said. He laughed and shook his head, “I know which team is winning, there’s a scoreboard for a reason,” Karl said softly. Sapnap rolled his eyes and the two went back to finishing their food, happy to be having something other than school cafeteria food. 

“We are going clothes shopping for you, half of your stuff is really old isn’t it?” Sapnap asked, getting up from the table. Karl nodded, but his face turned from happiness to fear in a split second, and he immediately started breathing heavily. Sapnap rushed to him and squatted down next to his chair, grabbing both of his hands. 

“Karl, what is it? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Sapnap asked frantically. Karl’s breaths were getting even more shallow as he tried to speak, no voice coming out of his throat. Sapnap looked around and spotted a bathroom nearby, and quickly pulled Karl out of his seat to bring him there. It was a single person bathroom, which was perfect, and Sapnap locked the door quickly behind them and grabbed both of Karl’s shoulders. 

“Karl, please tell me what’s wrong,” he said, quieter now. Karl looked around the bathroom and slowed his breathing. 

“I th- I thought I saw them,” he said with a shaky breath. Sapnap nodded and pulled him into a hug, holding him tightly. 

“You’re okay, you’re safe with me, I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re too perfect for that,” he hummed into his ear, hoping to calm his shaking body. When it didn’t however, Sapnap pulled him out of their hug and kissed him gently on the lips, holding him there for a few seconds. 

“You’re safe with me, I promise. I’ll never break that promise until the day I die,” he said firmly. Karl nodded and took a deep breath, reaching to the sink for water. He turned the sink handle to cold and scooped some into his hands, gently splashing it onto his face. The temperature was shocking at first, but quickly snapped him back into reality. Sapnap now had his arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. 

“Do you want to go home? We can go out another day or shop online,” he whispered. Karl shook his head. “We can stay, it's fine.” Sapnap nodded and grabbed a towel, drying off Karl’s face for him. 

“How about we get you some new sweaters? You always look so lovely in them and it’s gonna be winter soon,” he said. Karl nodded and grabbed Sapnap’s hand, and soon the two walked out of the bathroom. They headed for a store near the entrance that looked to have nice clothes, Sapnap immediately picking up a few sweaters for Karl to try on.

“You’ll look so good in these,” he said, handing them to Karl. Karl just blushed at this, turning to a different rack of clothes to hide his face. Sapnap grabbed him by the waist and pulled him back though, spinning him around to face him. 

“Don’t you dare hide your pretty little face from me,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. He quickly pressed a kiss on Karl’s lips before touring around the store again, looking for more clothes. Karl was a blushing mess, to put it lightly, but he shook it off and trailed behind Sapnap.

“This one’s cool,” he said, pulling down a white sweatshirt with black sleeves and a flame on the front. 

“That would look nice on you, you should get it,” Karl said. Sapnap nodded and grabbed his size, adding it to the small pile growing in Karl’s arms.

“Let’s go have a fashion show, shall we?” He asked. Karl giggled and nodded, and the two wandered to the dressing room, picking up a few more things on the way there.    
“We come out on 3,” Sapnap said. “I thought you already did?” Karl joked back, causing them both to be thrown into a pit of laughter. “Oh shut up,” Sapnap said between his laughter, opening his stall door. He had put on the flame sweatshirt and some tight black jeans that had small rips in the knees. 

Karl walked out, a random sweater on, and stared at Sapnap. He never wore things like this, mostly just sweatpants and sweatshirts, so it was rare for Karl to get to see him so dressed up. 

“Oh my god,” he said, voice trembling slightly. “Buy them. Both of them,” he said, still staring at him. Sapnap blushed a deep crimson and smiled, clearly happy with the reaction. The two spent the next 20 minutes trying on different clothes and showing each other, splitting every item between 2 piles. 

“Okay, this is the buy pile right?” Sapnap asked, looking at the large stack of clothes they both liked. “Yup,” Karl said, sorting through the other pile and putting everything back on hangers. Sapnap nodded and began doing the same with the pile in front of him, until the two had finished all of them. 

“Alrighty, lets go check out, and this time you can’t stop me from paying,” Sapnap said. Karl rolled his eyes, guilt filling him to the brim for no reason at all. 

They walked back to the car, their arms filled with shopping bags and stomachs filled with good food.    
“That was awesome,” Karl breathed, reminiscing about their wonderful day. They had spent nearly 4 hours shopping together, now exhausted from their trip. 

“You wanna head anywhere else before we go home?” Sapnap asked. Karl thought for a moment, before a frightening thought came to his head. 

“Actually, yeah,” he said slowly. Sapnap looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue. 

“I want to go back to my house,” he said. Sapnap now stared at him, stopping himself from starting the car like he was about to. “Why? I thought we picked up everything you needed already?” He said. Karl just shook his head. 

“My art stuff is in the basement, my dad took it away from me and locked it up a while ago. I really want it back,” he said, eyes watering at the memory. Sapnap set his hand on Karl’s thigh and nodded, now starting the car. 

“Then we can go get them. You said they were locked up, are we gonna be able to get them out?” Sapnap asked. “Oh,” is all Karl responded with. He hadn’t thought about how they were actually going to get inside the cabinet in the basement. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll get them for you,” Sapnap said. They pulled out of the parking lot and drove together in a comfortable silence, Karl preparing himself to go back to his house. When they arrived, Sapnap parked and turned to Karl, giving him a questioning look that he understood completely. “Yes, Sap, I’m sure,” he said. Sapnap nodded and got out of the driver’s seat, walking to the trunk. He grabbed a small toolbox that he kept for emergencies, before opening Karl’s door and helping him out. 

They held hands tightly, before walking inside the house. Karl’s legs started to shake as he took in the sight of his own home, reliving painful memories at each glance. He squeezed onto Sapnap’s hand as he led him to the basement, the worst place in his house. A place that held memories he had pushed down and broke free from, memories that only now were coming back to him. He didn’t dare speak, afraid of what he would say if he did, so instead he pointed at a cabinet in the corner of the room. Sapnap nodded and broke his hand free from Karl’s, walking over to break open the lock holding in its contents. 

As he grabbed a hammer to smash the lock, Karl remembered something, reaching back through months of trauma to find what he was searching for in his head. 

“There’s more than just art supplies in there,” he said blankly, giving no more explanation. 

Sapnap nodded, confused by what he meant, and broke the lock by smashing it with the hammer. Karl flinched from the noise, causing him to sit down on the steps, knees in his chest. Sapnap opened the cabinet and looked inside, his face turning pale. Karl was right, there was a lot more than just art supplies in there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wc - 4405  
> ok maybe i lied about this being the last chapter bc i forgot about part of the plot its fine tho more for yall  
> leaving you mfs with a cliffhanger even tho i update this very frequently so youll survive <3333
> 
> go eat some water.,,


	11. universe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> im sorry lol

It was an entire childhood. An entire childhood shoved away and locked up, for no one to see but the people who put it there. It was more than some art supplies, some lousy crayons taken from a crying child, it was more than just that. stacks of CDs and children’s movies stacked in the corner, a small bracelet-making kit tucked away in the corner opposite. A golden crown, used for dress up, covered in sparkling yet dusty jewels, plastic that hadn’t been touched in too long. A shelf of markers and pens, some old, some new. A superhero cape folded haphazardly, crumpled and shoved away, hidden from the outside air. 

“Karl, what is all of this?” Sapnap whispered, barely loud enough for Karl to register. Register, he did, answer, he did not. He stared into nothing, eyes glossed over with tears and trauma-filled memories from his past. 

“Karl?” Sapnap said, turning to him. He was sitting, knees tucked tightly to his chest, eyes wide staring at the cabinet of toys and children’s clothes. He rushed over to him, carefully picking him up into a hug. 

“Are these yours?” He asked quietly. He knew it wasn’t the time to ask, especially because Karl had basically gone limp in his arms at the sight, but he couldn’t help it. The cabinet was filled with years of childhood memories tragically taken and tucked far away for no one to reach. 

“Upstairs, come on, we’ll buy you new art supplies,” Sapnap said, now lifting Karl to stand fully, but he wasn’t having it. Karl was frozen in place, unable to rip his eyes from the cabinet filled with his childhood, filled with the only good memories that had been forced down by trauma, forgotten for years. Sapnap took a deep breath and lifted Karl up to carry him in his arms. He walked as quickly as he could up the stairs and out of the house, not caring about anything but getting Karl to the car. He set him in the backseat and hopped in the front, and within just seconds pulled out of the driveway, not even caring about his seatbelt. He pulled over on the next street of the neighborhood, just out of sight of Karl’s old house.

Sapnap got out and got in the backseat of the now parked car, grabbing Karl up into his arms. They were as close as humanly possible, but he wished he could be closer. He had no way of helping, nothing to do for his boyfriend other than watch him in pain. He traced a poem into his back, hoping Karl would focus on the words rather than the thoughts in his own head. It worked last time, so he just prayed it would this time. 

You could almost see Karl’s expression change, breaking free from his mind that was quickly closing in on him, grasping on to the last thing he could, the feeling of words on his back. He desperately tried to hold on to the words, bringing every last ounce of his focus he had left to decode the letters. It was a poem, one Sapnap had traced on him before.

_ And the universe said I love you _

The words circled in his mind, fighting a small battle in his head with the other thoughts that had strong power over them.

_ And the universe said you have played the game well _

He thought back to the first time he saw Sapnap, his soft, smiling face, happy to introduce himself to Karl, ready for a new friend.

_ And the universe said everything you need is within you _

He thought back to the first night he spent with Sapnap, accidentally curled into his chest lightly, unintentionally huddling close to him. 

_ And the universe said you are stronger than you know _

He thought back to the car ride with Sapnap, when he was supposed to go home but he was protected by the one he loved, the one he cared for most.

_ And the universe said you are the daylight _

He thought back to sitting on Sapnap’s bed, sobbing into his shoulder as he hugged him tightly, receiving a much needed hug back, a caring hug he could trust with every bone in his body, every inch of his skin. 

_ And the universe said you are the night _

He thought back to the way Sapnap carefully let him sit on his lap, his arms dancing around his bruises when he cradled him in a hug that was full of love.

_ And the universe said the darkness you fight is within you _

He thought back to their first kiss, a kiss so tender and soft he couldn’t even believe it was real, that it wasn’t just a dream, his mind playing foul tricks on him during the night.

_ And the universe said the light you seek is within you _

He thought back to seeing Sapnap’s face in his window, a face so sweetly bitter, filled with passion and rage and sorrow and love and beauty and care and every emotion humanly possible.

_ And the universe said you are not alone _

He thought back to waking up next to Sapnap, the fear of being alone in a hospital room immediately triumphed by the warm presence of him, holding his hand as he slept head down on his bed.

_ And the universe said you are not separate from every other thing _

He thought back to Sapnap wrapping himself around him while he cried silently on the stairs, scared to tell a soul what had happened to him, scared of people judging him.

_ And the universe said you are the universe tasting itself, talking to itself, reading its own code _

He thought back to every emotion he feared being scared away by Sapnap’s love and passion, his caring and kind demeanor, his willingness to help anyone who needed it, his ability to have others trust him like it was no big deal, his careful touch when he needed it most, his everything.

_ “And the universe said I love you, because you are love”  _ Karl whispered, finishing the poem that had been traced into his back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wc - 1027  
> decided to add this just to make anyone who read it cry. i was going to make it into a full length chapter but i thought that may ruin the effect of it yanno?  
> anyways i apologize, this is the minecraft end poem for those who don't know, the only thing i've read that has ever made me cry
> 
> im sorry lol go get a snacky or water :DD

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading this chapter, and consider checking out some of my other works! :]


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